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Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins stayed on set after 'Rust' crew walkout because she felt a 'responsibility for everyone else's job,' actor says

Halyna Hutchins attends the SAGindie Sundance Filmmakers Reception at Cafe Terigo on January 28, 2019 in Park City, Utah.
Halyna Hutchins. Fred Hayes/Getty Images for SAGindie

  • An actor who knew Halyna Hutchins told People she felt a responsibility to stay on the "Rust" set.
  • The actor said Hutchins felt the film "rest[ed] on her shoulders" amid the walkout on Thursday. 
  • Hutchins was killed when Alec Baldwin discharged a prop gun during a rehearsal on set. 
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The cinematographer Halyna Hutchins stayed on the set of "Rust" after other crew members walked off because she felt a "responsibility for everyone else's job there," an actor told People.

The actor Jonathan McAbee, who told People that he knew Hutchins and had spoken with other people on the "Rust" set, said the 42-year-old cinematographer felt the film "rest[ed] on her shoulders."

"She's the one responsible for how this [film's] gonna look," McAbee told People at a candlelight vigil for Hutchins. "If she left, production's over and that's what? Another 30 people's jobs, livelihoods?"

A group of six camera operators and their assistants walked off the set of "Rust" in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Thursday morning to protest working conditions just hours before the actor Alec Baldwin discharged a prop gun, killing Hutchins and injuring the film's director, Joel Souza.

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Baldwin was rehearsing for a scene and fired the prop gun while practicing a cross draw, the film's director said in an affidavit seen by Insider.

The affidavit said Baldwin was handed the prop gun by an assistant director on set who had called out "cold gun," which refers to a gun that's not loaded with any blank rounds or ammunition.

Death
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