‘Rust’ director says film’s premiere is ‘bittersweet’

More than three years after the fatal shooting on the set of “Rust,” the film made its debut Wednesday at the Camerimage Film Festival in Poland.

“It’s bittersweet,” the film’s director, Joel Souza, said in an interview after the premiere. “I think we would all have preferred that the movie was finished a long time ago, that Halyna was there standing proudly talking about it.”

On Oct. 21, 2021, “Rust” cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed when Alec Baldwin’s prop gun fired a live round of ammunition on set. The bullet also hit Souza in the shoulder.

Baldwin was charged with one count of manslaughter, but the case was dismissed over the summer after the judge in his trial found that New Mexico prosecutors had suppressed evidence.

“It’s been so long living with the movie and everything that happened and just all the sort of … insanity that kind of engulfed everything,” Souza said. “There is a sense of relief, I think, in this moment finally having happened.”

Baldwin was noticeably absent from the premiere, but Souza urged observers not to read too much into it.

“I doubt that [his attending] was ever even discussed. I mean, this is a cinematographers’ film festival,” he said.

Also not attending were Hutchins’ mother, father and sister, who stayed in their native Ukraine. In a statement on the eve of the premiere, the family said through their attorney, Gloria Allred, that they were boycotting the event because Baldwin never formally apologized. They also asserted that the producers are profiting from the tragedy.

Baldwin’s representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In a statement, Rust Movie Production pushed back against the family’s statement.

“Gloria Allred’s misrepresentation of both the Camerimage festival and any profit motivation is disappointing,” it said. “The decision to complete ‘Rust’ was made with the full support of Halyna’s family.”

The film’s new cinematographer, Bianca Cline, said the production team chose to finish the film in part to honor Hutchins’ work.

“It’s also awful that that’s the only thing that the majority of the world knows Halyna for, and hopefully, via this film, people will know her as a cinematographer and how she sees the world, rather than just seeing what happened to her,” she said.

Hutchins’ husband, Matthew Hutchins, received an undisclosed financial settlement from Baldwin and the…