Latest news with #LastTake
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Rust', Western With A Tragic Past, Honors Work Of Slain Cinematographer, Proceeds Will Go To Her Family
, the indie western with a tragic backstory, is now out at at some 115 theaters through Falling Forward Films, as well as on PVOD. The release comes well over three years since the film's cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed by a bullet from Alec Baldwin's gun on the New Mexico film set. An on-again-off-again involuntary manslaughter criminal case against the producer and star was put to rest last December. Multiple civil suits related to the shooting remain in the courts in California and New Mexico. A jury found Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the armorer for the production, guilty of involuntary manslaughter for the October, 2021 incident and she was sentenced to 16 months in prison. More from Deadline 'Rust' Review: Tragedy Hit The Set But Now Alec Baldwin's Western Hits The Screen – What's The Verdict? 'Last Take: Rust And The Story Of Halyna' Trailer & Premiere Date For Hulu Documentary 'Thunderbolts*' Looks To Create Lightning And Fire Up Summer Box Office With $175M Global Opening - Preview Amid all that, the movie itself has taken a back seat, until now. Deadline's review calls the release 'bittersweet' but notes 'the exceptional cinematography of Hutchins, as well as Bianca Cline, who came in to film the remaining scenes.' Honoring Hutchins work is a key reason the film is being released, says Falling Forward Films CEO and founder Scott Kennedy. 'I just loved it,' he said. 'We were able to get some theaters to go along with us because so much of the money is being given to Halyna's family, and her work is so amazing.' The family supported the release. Funds will go mainly to Hutchins' young son. Kennedy said there have been some early screenings, including one for cast and crew last night at the Laemmle Town Center in Encino. A director's statement added at the end of Rust offers a message about the film, and about Hutchins' work. Nicolas Cage-starrring thriller by Lorcan Finnegan opens on 879 screens. Premiered out of competition at Cannes (Deadline review here) to a big ovation and played SXSW. Distributor Roadside Attractions held a Q&A with the actor at the AMC Grove in LA on Wednesday that was beamed live to participating theaters after an advance screening. Roadside is said to be looking at an $1-$2 million opening weekend in a crowded market. Cage, as per the synopsis, plays a man who returns to the idyllic beach of his childhood to surf with his son. But his desire to hit the waves is thwarted by a group of locals whose mantra is 'don't live here, don't surf here.' Humiliated and angry, is drawn into a conflict that keeps rising in concert with the punishing heat of the summer and pushes him to his breaking point. from Greenwich Entertainment, written and directed by Durga Chew-Bose, opens on 200+ screens. This new adaptation of Françoise Sagan's coming-of-age novella by the same title stars Chloe Sevigny, Claes Bang, Lily McInerny, Nailia Harzoune, Aliocha Schneider. Premiered at TIFF, see Deadline review. At the height of summer, 18-year-old Cécile (McInerny) is languishing by the French seaside with her handsome father, Raymond (Bang), and his girlfriend, Elsa (Harzoune), when the arrival of her late mother's friend, Anne (Sevigny), changes everything. Amid the sun-drenched splendor of their surroundings, Cécile's world is threatened and, desperate to regain control, she sets in motion a plan to drive Anne away with tragic consequences. Weekend Q&As with the director and Lily McInerny at IFC Center. from Oscilloscope Labs by director Joel Potrykus (Ape, Buzzard, Relaxer) opens at the IFC Center with director Q&As. Adds Laemmle Noho in LA next weekend. Two friends trudge through a Michigan forest with the intention of following through on a disturbing pact. Once their plan goes shockingly awry, the surreal and haunting consequences of their failure can't stay hidden for long. Premiered at Tribeca Festival last year with a Special Jury Mention for Performance in a U.S. Feature for Joshua Burge. Also stars, Joel Potrykus. Bill Vincent, Solo Potrykus, Melissa Blanchard. This is the fourth collaboration by the indie director with Oscilloscope, whose website features The Potrykus Collection –posters, t-shirts, a DVD pack and limited edition VHS. (Los domingos mueren más personas) from Big World Pictures, written, directed by and starring Iair Said, opens at the Quad Cinema in NYC, adding Laemmle LA next weekend and expanding thereafter. World premiered at the Cannes Film Festival parallel ACID section. The queer Argentine dark comedy loosely based on Said's real-life experiences follows David, a young middle class Jewish man –corpulent, homosexual and afraid of flying – as he returns to Buenos Aires from Europe. He learns that his mother has decided to disconnect his father's respirator, the only thing that has kept him alive for years. David will oscillate between living in close quarters with his mother, alienated by the pain of the imminent loss of her husband, and a voracity to fill his existential anguish, occupying his hours learning to drive, seeking low-cost medical treatments, and trying to have sex with any man who shows him a little attention. Said is joined by Latin American stage and screen actor Rita Cortese (Wild Tales, Herencia), Argentine singer Juliana Gattas and Pablo Larrain favorite Antonia Zegers (The Club, The Punishment). MORE Best of Deadline Brad Pitt's Apple 'F1' Movie: Everything We Know So Far Everything We Know About 'Nine Perfect Strangers' Season 2 So Far 2025-26 Awards Season Calendar: Dates For Tonys, Emmys, Oscars & More
Chicago Tribune
12-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
‘Last Take: Rust and the Story of Halyna' review: A tragedy retold
Filmed in New Mexico, the Alec Baldwin Western 'Rust' became infamous when work on the 2021 movie culminated in the accidental fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. The Hulu documentary 'Last Take: Rust and the Story of Halyna' re-examines what happened on the troubled set, and it features interviews with several people involved, some of whom express a bitter frustration with how the tragedy was discussed online. Actor Josh Hopkins, for example, calls the internet 'the land of cowards,' which he found 'enraging because they don't know anything about a movie set and don't know anything about the hearts of the people involved.' That he and his colleagues would focus on public outrage, when one might have expected anger directed toward their employers, is stunning. But the Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspector assigned to the case (identified here only as Lorenzo) is blunt about where the focus should be: 'Every worker in America has a right to a safe workplace.' In addition to Hutchins, 'Rust' director Joel Souza was shot in the shoulder and survived. In the immediate aftermath of that October day, it became clear this was not an unexplainable event. That's reinforced in director Rachel Mason's documentary, as well. 'Every accident is preceded by a series of failures,' says the OSHA inspector. It's also conspicuous that no one gives voice to the fear: That could have been me. Were career preservation instincts guiding what they were willing to say on camera? Mason embarked on the documentary at the behest of Hutchins' widower, Matthew Hutchins, who wanted her humanity re-centered. 'But I realized I couldn't make a film about her life unless I understood how she died,' Mason says in the film. Perhaps this is why she fails to capture who Hutchins was beyond some nice words spoken about her by close friends. Notably, Matthew is not interviewed. That's understandable. It's also a problem for the film. Despite its well-intentioned aims, 'Last Take' reduces Hutchins' life to the circumstances of her death. If you were enraged when the story first broke, the documentary will re-enrage you all over again. Three people were held criminally liable for the shooting, despite the OSHA inspector's opinion that there was 'no way this is only limited to three people.' The Hulu press materials are careful to phrase the involvement of the film's star in passive terms: 'A prop gun held by actor Alec Baldwin fired a live bullet.' Baldwin was also a producer on the film and he was charged with involuntary manslaughter. The case was dismissed after the judge ruled the prosecution had withheld evidence. (The film's other producers are not discussed in the documentary.) Armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was convicted of involuntary manslaughter. And first assistant director Dave Halls pled no contest to negligent use of a deadly weapon and was given six months probation. (The prosecutor tells Mason she also offered Gutierrez-Reed a deal that would have resulted in no jail time, but Gutierrez-Reed chose a trial instead.) Budgets on independent films are always tight and there is intense pressure to stretch a dollar. 'Where is management's priority?' asks the OSHA inspector. 'Are we pushing production, production, production over people's safety due to money?' OSHA ultimately issued something called a 'willful citation.' According to the inspector, 'There was enough input from management, enough knowledge, enough warning, enough complaints — all of these red flags — and management said, 'Well, let's just move on.' We call that plain indifference.' A slide then appears on screen: 'In February 2023, OSHA agreed to settle with 'Rust' Productions, who were not required to admit any wrongdoing.' The film doesn't ask about the decision-making behind this outcome, but a consistent theme emerges relating to the question of who is culpable. Clips from various TV interviews include one featuring Baldwin, who states that 'someone is responsible for what happened and I can't say who that is, but I know it's not me.' Mason then cuts to a different clip featuring Hutchins' husband. He sees things differently: 'The idea that the person holding the gun causing it to discharge is not responsible is absurd to me. Every individual who touches a firearm has a responsibility for gun safety.' Baldwin, his wife and their children are currently featured in a new TLC series about their lives. According to People magazine, this prompted a response from Hutchins' family members: 'Is his reality show just a veiled attempt to create sympathy for himself with a future jury pool in our civil case? Is this just a shameless attempt to portray him as the real victim in this case?' The same report notes that Baldwin 'never called or tried to contact her parents or sister to say that he was sorry, and to this day he has never taken responsibility for Halyna's death.' Hutchins is also survived by a young son. Why was there real ammunition on set to begin with? How did those live rounds get mixed in with dummy rounds and loaded into Baldwin's pistol? Nobody appears to have an answer. Early in the news cycle, one rumored theory took hold: Were crew members doing target practice? The film doesn't address this possibility beyond a brief mention by the OSHA inspector: 'Through our interviews, we were able to determine that no one was shooting recreationally on set.' On the day of the shooting, Baldwin was interviewed by a sheriff's detective and in the video he's seen drawing a diagram to explain the setup: 'I sat here, and the camera was here, and she was here, and Joel was here.' The detective stops him: 'She being … Halyna?' It's striking that Baldwin refers to Souza by name but not Hutchins. Not long after, another detective says that Hutchins has died: 'Joel's still at the hospital. But the other person involved didn't make it.' Once again, Souza is named and Hutchins is not. How quickly she has been downgraded to 'the other person.' In later footage, Baldwin and his wife confront a group of paparazzi and a photographer admits to not remembering Hutchins' name. The Baldwins shame him, but their righteous indignation feels insincere considering Baldwin wasn't using her name in that footage with detectives. 'There was an ugly frenzy' around the case, says Souza. 'They sort of erased her from it really quickly.' He seems to be talking about the media. Another possible takeaway: The erasure was even broader. At least the documentary puts Hutchins' name right in the title. 'Last Take: Rust and the Story of Halyna' — 2.5 stars (out of 4) Where to watch: Hulu
USA Today
11-03-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Who's to blame in 'Rust' shooting? 'Last Take' says there's plenty to go around
Who's to blame in 'Rust' shooting? 'Last Take' says there's plenty to go around Show Caption Hide Caption 'Last Take: Rust and the Story of Halyna': See the trailer The new Hulu documentary "Last Take: Rust and the Story of Halyna" examines the life and tragic death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. For the public, the tragic debacle of "Rust" − the Western movie set where a prop gun held by Alec Baldwin discharged during rehearsal in 2021 and killed promising cinematographer Halyna Hutchins − is over. Baldwin, the film's star and producer, was acquitted of criminal charges on legal technicalities last summer. The movie's young armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, is serving 18 months in prison for involuntary manslaughter. And "Rust" was finished and had a quiet debut at a Polish film festival last fall. As yet, there are no U.S. distribution rights. But for many, "Rust" never sleeps. It haunts Hutchins' widower, Matt, and their son, Andros, who was 9 when his mother died, as well as Hutchins' family in Ukraine and her many friends in Hollywood. Which is why filmmaker Rachel Mason, who bonded with Hutchins when the two dropped off their then-3-year-olds at day care, has directed a documentary about her pal, "Last Take: Rust and the Story of Halyna" (streaming now on Hulu). "I was here to bear witness as her friend, sent by Matt, who wanted this done," says Mason, whose goal with "Last Take" wasn't to reinvestigate the case, but rather to "show the overall human toll, from the crew to the people in the courtroom, everyone had their own unique angle on that pain." Several questions addressed by Mason's documentary: Why did 'Rust' resume filming two years after Halyna Hutchins died? On Oct. 21, 2021, filming halted immediately on the New Mexico set of "Rust" after Baldwin's gun went off. With the criminal and civil lawsuits that followed, it seemed unlikely "Rust" would ever be completed. And yet that's what happened in 2023, as Baldwin, his production team and a new cinematographer, Bianca Cline, went to Montana to finish the Western. But accusations of this decision being callous don't resonate with Mason. Hutchins, 42, would have wanted as much. "If Halyna chose a film to work on, it's because she was committed to it," Mason says. "Looking at it from the victim's perspective, she wanted to make it, and she died making it. If you knew Halyna, it's impossible not to think she would want it completed." Mason's documentary shows Cline avidly studying the voluminous notes Hutchins kept while working on "Rust," details covering everything from lighting ideas to lens possibilities. "When you see her images from 'Rust' coupled with what people say about her vision for this movie, it hits home why it had to be made," Mason says. Is Alec Baldwin in 'Last Take,' the new documentary about Halyna Hutchins? Mason felt comfortable approaching Baldwin for an interview because she knew him from a prior encounter. "I'd met Alec years before at a film festival and he was a big champion of my 2019 film 'Circus of Books' (about a gay bookshop in Los Angeles)," says Mason. When she spoke to him after the shooting, "he was in a state of utter trauma. It was a sad and horrible thing. I did ask him later to be in ('Last Take'), but he was working on other projects at the time." The star is currently seen in his family's TLC reality show 'The Baldwins.' One of the most striking moments in Mason's film involves Baldwin. Footage shows the actor being interviewed by two Santa Fe law enforcement officials after the shooting. One tells Baldwin that Hutchins has died. He sits frozen for a long time, almost giving the impression that the video has glitched. "You see his total shock in that footage," Mason says. Who else from 'Rust' is seen in the 'Last Take' documentary? The "Rust" shoot was conducted on a budget and perhaps in a bit of a rush, as evidenced by some crew members quitting just before Hutchins' accidental shooting to protest working conditions. "Last Take" spotlights camera assistant Lane Luper, who explains the concerns he had about a few accidental firearm discharges, which he shared with producers at the time. It might be easy to blame negligent producers who didn't heed such warnings, but Mason she wanted to show that the reality of a movie set is more complex. "Yes, there was a lot of tension on this set and people weren't listening to each other well, but I don't think that's unique to 'Rust,'" says Mason, adding that complaints about "Rust" set safety often were part of very lengthy emails that included issues related to COVID policies. "OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) would argue there should always be a 'stop work order' option, where any person has the authority to say stop work now, but on a film set, the hierarchy is baked in," Mason says. "So you have Hannah who is feeling low on the totem pole, while Alec is on the high end, and in between people are saying this and that. Communication (on a set) sadly is not as simple as stop and let's all halt." Who is to blame for the death of Halyna Hutchins, according to the 'Last Take' documentary? Of all the players in the "Rust" tragedy, only Gutierrez-Reed is serving jail time. In "Last Take," she seems baffled when Santa Fe authorities tell her that multiple live rounds were found floating around the set. And yet "Last Take" also features a telling text exchange in which Gutierrez-Reed asks for more time to secure the weapons and is told she needs to tackle her various chores with the time she has. "Where this all lands for me and for the film is where it lands for most people: We don't have more answers to truly how that gun came to be loaded with that live bullet," Mason says. "I really wish we did." Regret seems to be the most common sentiment in "First Take." Veteran actress and "Rust" cast member Frances Fisher recounts how disorganized Guitierrez-Reed was upon their first meeting. It was an omen she ignored. "I wish I had said something to her, and I wish I had said something to Alec," she says. "And would my alerting somebody, would that have changed anything? That's what gnaws at me."
Los Angeles Times
11-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Unlike ‘The Baldwins,' Halyna Hutchins documentary grapples with reality of ‘Rust' shooting
Five minutes into the new Hulu documentary 'Last Take: Rust and the Story of Halyna,' the film's director, Rachel Mason, stands against the cornflower blue of the endless New Mexican sky. 'They airlifted her in the helicopter from right here,' Mason says, 'and she died in the sky at this exact time.' As Mason continues speaking, images of Halyna Hutchins fill the screen — messing around on a Razor scooter, hiking with her family, riding horseback on the set of 'Rust,' playing on the beach. 'The last time I saw her, we were hiking with our kids. Halyna and I were friends. We were both filmmakers and moms. She came here to Santa Fe and never came back.' Though brief, it is the type of footage one would expect to see at a memorial service, which, in essence, is what this film was supposed to be. 'After Halyna died,' Mason continues, 'her husband Matt asked me to make a film about her life. But,' she adds, 'I realized I couldn't make a film about her life if I didn't understand how she died.' And therein lies the difficulty of any attempt to pay tribute to Hutchins' life without it being overshadowed by the nature of her death, at least for commercial purposes. Tragically, the world knows Hutchins almost solely as the cinematographer who was fatally shot in October 2021 by a live bullet round discharged from a gun held by film star Alec Baldwin during a rehearsal for a scene in 'Rust,' a low-budget western. Her death, and the wounding of director Joel Souza by the same bullet, dominated headlines for months in part because it should have been impossible. Multiple people on any film set are tasked with ensuring that no live ammunition is anywhere near guns used to tell cinematic stories. How it happened has been the subject of deep reporting by journalists, police investigators, forensic specialists, industry safety experts, and a series of criminal and civil court cases. Those who followed that reporting, in The Times or elsewhere, will find little new information in 'Last Take.' But with powerful, previously unseen footage and moving interviews with cast and crew, including some as they finally finish 'Rust' more than two years after Hutchins' death, the film more than makes up for that in context. That especially includes footage and memories of Hutchins. Even if, as Mason admitted in a recent screening, the film was steered in a more sensational direction by those funding it, Hutchins remains the central character. There is no villain in 'Last Take.' From first glance, it is eminently clear that then-24-year-old armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, now serving 18 months for involuntary manslaughter, should never have been hired to oversee the film's many weapons, especially while also serving as prop master. Assistant director David Halls, who appears in the film, was supposed to double-check the weapons; still clearly guilt-stricken, he accepted a plea bargain and was convicted of negligent use of a firearm. Baldwin, who does not appear in the film, had his involuntary manslaughter charge dismissed due to withheld evidence. But it does have a hero. In interview after interview, Hutchins is described, by friend and temporary colleague alike, as an inspired and committed filmmaker and an empathetic boss and co-worker. When speaking of her, they often become emotional, remembering her kindness and dedication. As was first reported in The Times, the day before the shooting, members of the crew had walked off the set citing safety concerns. When Hutchins found out, 'she looked blindsided,' says crew member Jonas Huerta (identified in the film, as all interview subjects are, by only his first name.) 'She said, 'I feel like I'm losing my best friends.'' The departing crew assumed their absence would cause filming to halt while producers dealt with the issues they had raised. Instead, production continued; Hutchins was attempting to make do when she was shot. 'I heard her monitor wasn't working,' says Huerta, his voice shaking, 'and she had to see the frame from the steady cam. … If I was there I could have put her monitor out of harm's way. I always made sure she was out of the danger. Any time the gun was pointed, I would make sure that monitor was safe.' Hutchins was the victim of a series of bad decisions, carelessness and at least one remaining mystery: how live bullets came to be on the set of 'Rust.' 'Last Take' reminds us of what was lost that day in New Mexico: A bright and talented woman, and a beloved mother, wife and friend, who had much of her life and career ahead of her. It also provides a necessary balance, if not antidote, to 'The Baldwins,' a TLC reality show that premiered last month. Showcasing the lives of Alec and Hilaria Baldwin and their seven children, 'The Baldwins' opens in the weeks leading up to Baldwin's criminal trial last summer. Immediately after the shooting, and in the years that followed, he rigorously denied pulling the trigger of the gun that killed Hutchins, and said he was pointing it at Hutchins by her own direction in order to line up the shot on camera. Many, including Hutchins' widower Matthew, felt that Baldwin's refusal to acknowledge any responsibility in Hutchins' death has been both disingenuous and unseemly. Matthew and his son sued Baldwin, reaching an undisclosed settlement nearly a year after the shooting. In 2023, Hutchins' parents and sister also sued the actor, the film's producers and the production company, Rust Movie Productions; lawyers representing the family told the presiding judge they will depose Baldwin in May. None of that is addressed during the first two episodes of 'The Baldwins,' in which the narrative is driven almost entirely by Hilaria Baldwin. Describing the toll the shooting — a word also never used — has taken on her husband, herself and their family, Hilaria Baldwin has a near-manic (she says she has ADHD) determination to make their home life as normal as possible. (I'm not sure exactly how she thought a camera crew would help achieve this.) Baldwin, meanwhile, spends the first two episodes lurching around his spacious Hamptons home in a discernible daze, making random attempts to engage with his children, repeatedly praise his wife, and discuss the negative trajectory of his career all while clearly contemplating the very real possibility of a prison sentence. With seven children under the age of 12, life most certainly had to go on in the Baldwin house, even in the countdown to trial. And no doubt Hilaria has been torn between ministering to her husband and her children. It is not a situation one would wish on their worst enemy. But why the Baldwins, or anyone really, would think that the solution to this was participation in a reality show is beyond me, particularly the decision to film the weeks leading up to the trial. Hutchins is dead and Alec is ... complaining about losing work and having to be digitized for video games? The third episode, which dropped Sunday, offers some clarity if not much in the way of self-awareness. Footage from the trial is prefaced by a brief explanation of the shooting, including pictures of Hutchins and Souza. After a teary-eyed Alec hears the judge dismiss the case, with prejudice, we learn that due to the pending appeal (during which the judge subsequently upheld her original judgment) and the various civil suits, he is not allowed to discuss the case. He is allowed to discuss his feelings, however, which appear to be a cautious sense of relief and a desire to devote himself to raising his children. Hilaria finally gives voice to the obvious — that unlike Hutchins' son, the Baldwin children still have both their parents. But if Baldwin seems content to take one day at a time, his wife wants them to start pushing forward. She encourages her husband to join her in therapy along with, I very much regret to report, 'The Baldwins' camera crew. Baldwin most certainly needs therapy, but it's difficult to think of a more narcissistic, and potentially psychologically damaging, move than to have it filmed for a reality show. Especially when one of Baldwin's first complaints is the toll that living a very public life has taken on him. Here's a thought: Don't do a reality show. With Baldwin unable to discuss the actual source of his obvious trauma — the fact that the gun he held shot and killed Hutchins — what, really, is the point? I certainly don't want to hear any more about how his OCD interacts with Hilaria's ADHD. The fact that they are being paid to do this, with all the trappings of every parents-under-stress reality show, only adds to the air of self-centered exploitation. As Mason says at the beginning of 'Last Take,' Halyna Hutchins went to Santa Fe to make a movie and never came back. That's the reality. Maybe the Baldwins should take a break from filming and watch.
New York Times
11-03-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
‘Last Take: Rust and the Story of Halyna' Review: Confusing Accounts
'I don't know how you get justice from an accident.' In 2021, the cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was fatally shot on the set of the movie 'Rust.' The new Hulu documentary 'Last Take: Rust and the Story of Halyna,' directed by Rachel Mason, a friend of Hutchins, is not a chronicle of Hutchins's life, nor a tribute to it. The film is instead a plodding but cleareyed account of the confusion, blame and scandal around her death. The documentary begins with a brief overview of the case, highlighting some of the crew members who were involved. The film goes on to challenge a schematic reading of who is responsible for Hutchins's death, and even suggests that certain 'Rust' producers were never held accountable for mismanaging the production. One compelling section highlights an email received by the armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, which scolded her for neglecting her prop duties to focus on firearm supervision. The revelations offer new perspectives on a tragedy that was already thoroughly covered in the media. The film's biggest letdown lies in its cursory tour of who Hutchins was apart from her final hours. Despite testimony from Hutchins's friends that repeatedly references her artistry, Mason rarely incorporates clips of Hutchins's cinematography outside 'Rust.' When the documentary does find time for a montage of her work, it is only to illustrate a point about where the guns onscreen are being aimed. Last Take: Rust and the Story of Halyna Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 30 minutes. Watch on Hulu.
