Three years after it was first announced and almost 18 months after the fatal shooting of its cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set, the Alec Baldwin-starring Western Rust has returned to the Cannes market.
The Hollywood Reporter understands that Goodfellas — formerly Wild Bunch International — is selling the project, taking over from Highland Film Group who originally launched it in the virtual Marché in 2000.
Rust sees Baldwin an infamous outlaw who comes out of hiding to stop his 13-year-old grandson from being hanged for murder. Joel Souza, who teamed with Baldwin on Crown Vic, directs from a story they both conceived.
However, Rust is now better known for the incident on Oct. 21, 2021 in Bonanza Creek Ranch near Santa Fe, in which a revolver Baldwin was holding discharged, killing Hutchins and injuring Souza. The tragic incident saw the production shut down, a major legal battle erupt over who held responsibility for what happened and an industry-wide call for live ammunition to be banned from film sets. (In Feb. 2022, Hutchins’ family filed a wrongful death suit in New Mexico against Alec Baldwin and “others responsible for the safety on set and whose reckless behavior.”)
In April of this year, two counts of involuntary manslaughter against Baldwin were dropped and filming resumed at Yellowstone Film Ranch in Montana. Hutchins’ widower, Matthew Hutchins, is now an executive producer on the movie under a settlement he reached with the production to resolve the wrongful death suit. Filming on Rust is expected to be completed later this month.
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