Alec Baldwin Says Certain 'Rust' Lawsuits Are Targeted Toward 'Deep-Pocket Litigants'

While Alec Baldwin did not name specific plaintiff(s), he said in part of the Rust lawsuits, "Why sue people if you're not going to get money?"

By

Jen Juneau

Published on March 7, 2022 02:50 PM

Alec Baldwin says he believes some individuals filing lawsuits over the Rust shooting are motivated by finances.

Multiple outlets, including The Hollywood Reporter and CNN, report that Baldwin — who accidentally misfired a prop gun on the set of the Western film Rust last October, resulting in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins — cited "deep-pocket litigants" on Saturday while speaking at the Boulder International Film Festival in Colorado.

"From the beginning, from the moment this happened, everybody has put out — besides all the anguish and the suffering, horrible feelings we have and, of course, there are two victims and nobody else is a victim, so to speak — we have dealt with a situation where specific people are not as interested in finding out what really happened," said Baldwin, 63, during a moderated event at the festival, per THR.

"What you have is a certain group of people, litigants and whatever, on whatever side, who their attitude is, 'Well, the people who likely seem negligent have no money and the people who have money are not negligent,' " the actor continued, as seen in video footage shared by CNN.

" 'But we're not gonna let that stop us from doing what we need to do in terms of litigation,' " Baldwin added. "Why sue people if you're not going to get money? That's what you're doing it for."

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Alec Baldwin Hayla Hutchins — Alec Baldwin; Halyna Hutchins. Rachel Luna/WireImage; Mat Hayward/Getty/AMC Networks

In October, Baldwin accidentally shot Halyna and director Joel Souza during a camera test at the Bonanza Creek Ranch set in New Mexico. Halyna, 42, died from her injuries after being airlifted to the University of New Mexico Hospital. Souza, 48, survived his injuries.

The Sante Fe Sheriff's Office has not yet charged anyone in the incident.

Last month, Halyna's husband Matthew Hutchins filed a complaint on behalf of himself and the couple's 9-year-old son Andros, claiming Baldwin "recklessly shot and killed Halyna Hutchins on the set of the movie Rust."

The complaint, also filed by Halyna's estate, reads Baldwin "and the other Defendants in this case failed to perform industry standard safety checks and follow basic gun safety rules while using real guns to produce the movie Rust, with fatal consequences."

A rep for Baldwin did not respond to PEOPLE's request for comment about the complaint.

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In January, Baldwin and the producers of Rust requested that a previous lawsuit filed against them by the film's script supervisor, Mamie Mitchell, be dismissed.

In court documentation obtained by PEOPLE, Baldwin and others — Cavalry Media, Inc.; Rust Movie Productions, LLC; El Dorado Pictures, Inc.; Thomasville Pictures, LLC; Anjul Nigam; Matthew DelPiano; Ryan Donnell Smith and Langley Allen Cheney — responded to the lawsuit, filed in November by Mitchell after the fatal shooting of Halyna.

"Nothing about Plaintiff's allegations suggest that any of Defendants, including Mr. Baldwin, intended the Prop Gun to be loaded with live ammunition," the document read, in part. "Moreover, nothing about Plaintiff's allegations suggests any of the Defendants knew the Prop Gun contained live ammunition."

In the lawsuit obtained by PEOPLE on Nov. 17, Mitchell alleged she was injured from the Oct. 21 shooting. She is suing for assault, intentional infliction of emotional distress and deliberate infliction of harm. (A rep for Baldwin did not comment on the lawsuit at the time.)