Documentary About 'Rust' Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins Underway

A documentary about Halyna Hutchins, the cinematographer for the film Rust who was killed in an incident involving a prop gun is in the making.

The 42-year-old mother was shot and killed on October 21, 2021, after a prop gun fired by the producer and actor Alec Baldwin turned out to contain live ammunition.

Baldwin had discharged a prop gun that he was told did not contain any live ammunition. The director of Rust Joel Souza was also injured when the bullet was fired.

The feature-length documentary exploring the life of the cinematographer will explore Halyna Hutchins’ life and work. The documentary has been fully authorized by her husband Matt Hutchins.

Suggested Reading: Prop Gun Fired By Alec Baldwin During Film Shoot Kills Woman Cinematographer

Halyna Hutchins Documentary

Filmmaker Rachel Mason, who received an Emmy nomination for her work on the documentary Circus of Books will be helming the project. The documentary film will have exclusive access to Hutchins’ professional and personal archives.

Julee Metz will serve as a producer for the production company Story Syndicate.

The documentary will follow Hutchins’ life as a youth living on a remote Soviet naval base and then in Kyiv, Ukraine. She proceeded to become of the most in-demand cinematographers for independent films.

Mason said, “As a filmmaker, I wanted to make movies with her. Never could I have imagined that I would be making a film about her.”

She added that while the world lost a great artist, she lost a friend. “The fact that her brilliance as an artist was instantly overshadowed by the circumstances around her death, pains me deeply,” said Mason.

Mason wrote that the documentary film would share the late Hutchins’ “humanity and talent with the world”.

Following Halyna Hutchins' untimely death, her family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Alec Baldwin, which he settled earlier last month. In turn, the actor filed a lawsuit against the Rust armourer and crew members for negligence.

Mason ended her statement by saying, "Halyna was destined for greatness, and she still is".