'Rust' director breaks silence about nightmares after fatal shooting

Joel Souza, the screenwriter and director of rust who was wounded by the same bullet that killed camerawoman Halyna Hutchins, speaks out for the first time since the tragic incident.

On October 21, 2021 in Santa Fe, New Mexico, rust Star and producer Alec Baldwin was holding a prop gun that unknowingly contained a live bullet. Baldwin claims the gun went off without him pulling the trigger, fatally striking Hutchins in the chest. The remnants of the bullet entered Souza's shoulder and nearly struck his spine.

Last month, a judge dismissed the manslaughter charge against Baldwin, citing prosecutors' suppression of evidence. The film's gunsmith, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, is serving an 18-month prison sentence after being found guilty of manslaughter in March. She is now trying to have her conviction overturned.

In a nearly four-hour interview with Vanity Fair In the video released Thursday, Souza, 51, gushed about his friend Hutchins, who he said was “too cool for me to meet,” and revealed that audiences will never see the crime scene that led to the fatal accident.

“It disappears in its entirety,” Souza told the outlet about the final cut of the film, which he reluctantly returned to be completed so that Hutchins' cinematography would be preserved. But her family will also benefit, having reached an agreement with the producers, including Hutchins' husband, to receive a percentage of the Rust Result.

Souza admitted that for over a year after the tragic event, he had “nightmares that would make me wake up in a sweat” every night. He also went to six therapists, but nothing seemed to help.

“I remember going to sleep that night hoping I wouldn't wake up the next morning,” he recalled of the night of the shooting. “I hoped I would just bleed to death overnight because I didn't want to be here anymore. It was a very difficult moment. I remember thinking: Maybe I'll just bleed to death – that would be just the thing for me.”

Souza also shared his thoughts on guns on film sets.

“My recommendation is this: There should never be any guns allowed,” he said. “Nothing real that you can fire anything from. From now until eternity everything should be imitation. And there should still be gun masters, even if it's imitation, because without gun masters they're still not safe.”

Regarding his current relationship with Baldwin, Souza said, “It was hard to get through that. We got through it. I performed the way I wanted to. We're not friends. We're not enemies. There's no relationship.”

The filming of rust Filming began in March, but the release is still uncertain. Souza says reports that the film was presented to distributors who were unwilling to release it are false.

Newsweek has asked Souza's representatives for comment.

Professional scales rust Shot effect

Dutch Merrick has been a weapons and prop master for nearly 30 years. He has worked on feature films and television shows including Euphorbia, SEAL TeamAnd CSINewYork. At the time of rust During filming, Merrick served as president of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) Local 44, the largest union representing prop masters and prop masters.

The rust A tragedy inspired him to develop the Prop Gun Safety Training course, an eight-hour hands-on curriculum that teaches the fundamentals of safe gun handling, set knowledge, and handling of any prop that simulates a firearm, as well as serving as an industry handbook.

“Then we do a scene study in front of the camera, where we do practical exercises with the participants using blank shots in front of the camera,” said Merrick Newsweek about his course.

“We spend more than an hour analyzing the rust tragedy and then we move on to Brandon Lee and Jon-Erik Hexum,” he said of other gunshot tragedies on set.

Merrick says some Hollywood projects have taken safety measures to “overcorrect” to avoid rust-like incident after the shooting, resulting in costly post-processing measures to make airsoft or toy guns look real.

Instead, Merrick wants to see technical changes in the industry. He says there is currently no IATSE professional code of conduct for master-at-arms, which means “you're a master-at-arms if you say you're a master-at-arms.” Merrick believes a master-at-arms professional code of conduct “is critical because it would negotiate our wages and set a minimum standard for licensing and training.”

He also says that IATSE Local 44 only requires prop masters and prop craftsmen to take a 90-minute online course that could also be useful for other roles on the film set.

“I think everyone should have to take this course, just as an information and confidence-building course. And then the people who handle the weapons, like the prop masters and prop assistants, and if there was a professional code for the armorer, they would have to take a much more intensive certification, something like eight, 10 or 12 hours.”

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988, texting “988” to the Crisis Text Line at 741741, or going to 988lifeline.org.

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