“Absolute devastation”: ‘Rust’ director Joel Souza recalls fatal on-set shooting

In a lengthy interview with Vanity Fair, Joel Souza, the director of the Western Rust, went into detail about the fatal 2021 on-set shooting that left him injured and took the life of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

Of the many details in the piece, Souza says it’s “glaring” that the Western is about “a boy who accidentally shoots someone. That is inescapable. When people hear that, they are very taken aback.”

Souza explained the live round that was fired from the weapon aimed by Alec Baldwin fatally struck Hutchins in the chest and lodged in his shoulder, penetrating so deep it nearly hit his spine. 

He said they were rehearsing a shot with Baldwin when the gun discharged. “I got in behind [Halyna]. When I tried to get a look, that’s when the gun fired. And then … yeah, all hell broke loose.”

He said, “It felt like a horse kicked me in the shoulder or someone hit me with a bat. The whole right side of my body went … completely numb, but it also hurt excruciatingly at the same time.”

He also recalled being “furious at that moment. I remember looking up and they were lowering Halyna … and there was blood coming through her white shirt.”

He found out Hutchins had died when he was in the emergency room. He called that “crushing in a way that is difficult to put into words” and “absolute devastation.”

Souza said the incident “ruined” him. “[I]nternally, the person I was just went away.”

When asked if he was grateful to be alive after the shooting, he said, “Not really.”

The 51-year-old director, who reluctantly returned to finish the film, said he “didn’t want to wake up” after the incident and he’s been plagued with nightmares since. 

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