'Rust' Set Footage Shows Alec Baldwin Rushing the Crew, Complaining About Slow Pace

Rust set footage was recently screened in court, and it showed Alec Baldwin rushing the crew during a shootout scene, and complaining about the slow pace of filming. The footage was shown in conjunction with the testimony of Bryan Carpenter, a veteran armorer who is serving as the state's expert witness in their case against Baldwin and Rust's 24-year-old armorer, Hannah Gutierrez Reed, who is currently on trial in New Mexico.

"One more! One more! One more! Right away!" Baldwin was heard shouting after doing a take with a gun in-hand, per Variety. "Let's reload!" Gutierrez-Reed rushed to load more blanks into his gun, while Baldwin was said to appear impatient. "Here we go! C'mon," he's heard saying. "We should have two guns and both we're reloading."

Carpenter went on to testify that Gutierrez-Reed Baldwin should have slowed things down when Baldwin was hurrying the pistol reloading process. "Rushing with firearms and telling someone to rush with firearms is not normal nor accepted," Carpenter said. "In a situation like that, when you're getting rushed to that extent, that's when safety starts to fall by the wayside."

In another clip, Baldwin was seen lying on the ground, face up, while holding a pistol. He motioned with the gun to show the crew how he was planning to get and fire. "I don't want to shoot toward you," Baldwin told the crew. "I'm going to shoot close to you."

When asked if he found anything wrong with this particular take, Carpenter noted that the actor was "using the weapon as a pointing stick." At some point, Gutierrez-Reed was heard, off-screen, telling the crew: "Everyone in the path of the gun please move." Carpenter said that, to him, this seemed like Gutierrez-Reed was avoiding confrontation with Baldwin. "She was attempting to not correct Mr. Baldwin, but to try to make the crew move in a more safe position," Carpenter said.

When Gutierrez-Reed's defense attorney had a chance to cross-examine Carpenter, he noted that she was just getting her start in the business, and was not yet a union member. The lawyer asked Carpenter if he thought it would be tough for Gutierrez-Reed to address things with Baldwin, to which the veteran armorer replied, "It would be a difficult situation."

In October 2021, cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed after a prop gun that Baldwin was holding discharged. The gun was initially not believed to be loaded with live rounds. Director Joel Souza was non-fatally injured during the incident. In January 2023, it was announced that both Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed would be charged with involuntary manslaughter. The initial charges against Baldwin were later dropped, but have since been re-filed.

Baldwin is set to go to court over the fatal Rust film set shooting in New Mexico on July 9. The formal trial kicks off the next day on July 10 and lasts for nine days — until July 19 — with deliberations following.