Alec Baldwin is opening up about the tragic Rust shooting and revealing that people are going to see him at his “worst” in the trailer for his new documentary, The Trial of Alec Baldwin.
The new documentary follows the 2021 shooting on the set of Rust that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and Baldwin’s manslaughter trial, in which a New Mexico judge dismissed the involuntary manslaughter charge against the actor in the fatal shooting.
The case was resolved in December 2024 after prosecutors withdrew their appeal of the July 2024 dismissal.
“On October 21, 2021, cinematographer Halyna Hutchins is killed on a movie set by a prop gun held by the actor Alec Baldwin. In the immediate aftermath of the tragedy, virtually no one doubts that it was an accident and a deeply traumatizing experience for everyone involved,” the film’s official logline reads.
“After the shock subsides, questions of responsibility, guilt, blame, punishment and justice begin circulating in the media, fueled largely by Baldwin’s fame, as well as his reputation. Talented and adored, yet also flawed, politically outspoken, and prone to explosions of anger, the NYC-based Hollywood star becomes a lightning rod for online haters and a target for pushy paparazzi. With prosecutors weighing criminal charges, the events that unfold are driven less by the facts surrounding the case and more by who Alec Baldwin is — both as a man and as a public figure.”
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In the trailer, Baldwin says that he was “in shock” and “disbelief” when he found out Hutchins had died.
“If you said to me, ‘Hike up Mount Everest and she’ll come back,’ I’d be packed and ready to go. Whatever I could do, but there’s nothing you can do,” Baldwin adds.
Baldwin says he believes that prosecutors would “definitely put me in jail if they could.”
“The public life is painful. Once they write your rap sheet, it’s hard to get out from under it,” Baldwin says. “I never dreamed in my life that this would come down to this.”
“I want to be acquitted so I can just walk out the door and everyone just leave me alone,” he says in the trailer.
Baldwin claims that people who watch the documentary will see “so much of me at my worst.”
The footage also shows a paparazzo asking the 68-year-old actor: “Alec, you killed someone by accident. How do you feel?”
“You need to back up guys,” Baldwin responds.
The documentary, directed by Oscar-nominated director Rory Kennedy, is set to be released in theatres across North America, beginning on Oct. 1.
Following the Rust shooting, Baldwin had said that he wanted to retire from his acting career and spend time with his family after the “very painful” five years following the 2021 shooting.
“We had this incident, this tragedy, in New Mexico, where Halyna Hutchins was killed on the set of the film, and that was unspeakably difficult to deal with,” Baldwin recalled on the Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast.
“Because of the situation in New Mexico, which was very painful, I wound up staying home a lot. I was home with my kids for three-and-a-half years,” Baldwin said. “I hardly worked at all. And that’s just changing now, I’m going to go off and do a bunch of things, but I was home and I got used to it, and I don’t want to leave my house anymore.
“I don’t want to work anymore. I don’t. I really don’t. I want to retire and stay home with my kids.”
Baldwin shares seven children, all under the age of 12, with his wife, Hilaria, whom he’s been married to since 2012. He also has one older daughter, Ireland, 30, from his first marriage with actor Kim Basinger.
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