Rust script supervisor Mamie Mitchell has sued Alec Baldwin and the film’s other producers following the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
Mitchell and her lawyer, high-profile attorney Gloria Allred, announced the suit during a press conference in Los Angeles on Tuesday, alleging that the script did not call for Baldwin to fire the prop gun that killed Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza on set in New Mexico.
“There was nothing in the script about the gun being discharged by defendant Baldwin or by any other person,” reads the complaint, adding that the script instead called for a shot of Baldwin reaching his hand down to the holster to remove the gun.
The lawsuit also claims “assault, intentional infliction of emotional distress and deliberate infliction of harm,” seeking unspecified punitive and compensatory damages.
“Alec Baldwin intentionally, without just cause or excuse, cocked and fired the loaded gun even though the upcoming scene to be filmed did not call for the cocking and firing of the firearm,” Allred said during the conference. “Mr. Baldwin chose to play Russian Roulette with a loaded gun without checking it and without having the armorer do so.”
The complaint goes on to fault Baldwin for failing to check the gun himself — a move also condemned by George Clooney — accusing Baldwin of trying to “hide behind the Assistant Director.”
Mitchell recalled the moment while speaking to the press, sharing that she was
“I’ll never forget what happened on this set of Rust that day. I relive the shooting and the sound of the explosion and the gun over and over again,” Mitchell said through her tears:
“I’m depressed. I don’t feel safe. I feel like at any moment anything could happen to me and to those that I care about that are standing close to me,” she continued. “I don’t have a sense of guardrails in my life to keep me safe. I’m frightened of the future. This violent tragedy has taken away the joy in my life.”
Mitchell also claimed the gun was improperly handed to Baldwin by the film’s first assistant director, Dave Halls, stripping blame from armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who was responsible for the guns on set and previously said she does not know how a live round was in the weapon.