Alec Baldwin is “canceling other projects,” and was “inconsolable for hours,” after the prop gun he was holding killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza — according to a report by People.
“He was hysterical and absolutely inconsolable for hours,” a source told People of Baldwin after Hutchins’ death. “Everyone knows this was an accident, but he’s absolutely devastated.”
The source added that the 63-year-old actor “is canceling other projects,” and is looking “to take some time to himself and re-center himself.”
“This was pretty devastating,” the source continued. “This is how he handles difficult times. Whenever something bad happens, in the short term, he removes himself from [the] public eye.”
“[Baldwin] is someone who really deeply cares, so he can be very hard on himself,” the source added. “That’s true in general, in situations nowhere near as serious as this. But in this situation, it’s a whole other level because of the loss of life involved.”
The source told People “it’s going to take him time to figure all this out,” adding that Baldwin “needs to take a while to himself, to be with his family.”
On Thursday, authorities were dispatched to the New Mexico set of Rust following a 911 call in which script supervisor Mamie Mitchell told a dispatcher “our director and our camerawoman” were “accidentally shot on a move set by a prop gun.”
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Hutchins died after being transported via helicopter to the University of New Mexico Hospital.
Souza was taken by ambulance to Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center, where he underwent treatment for his injuries and later released.
The gun Baldwin used was one of three that the film’s head armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed had set on a cart outside a building where a scene was being rehearsed, according to court records.
Assistant director Dave Halls then handed Baldwin one of the guns during a rehearsal, and yelled, “cold gun” — meaning the firearm didn’t have any live rounds of ammunition in it. The actor later pulled the trigger, sending one bullet straight through Hutchins, and then into Souza.
Baldwin first addressed the incident on Friday morning in a two-part statement on Twitter, in which he said, “There are no words to convey my shock and sadness regarding the tragic accident that took the life of Halyna Hutchins,” and that he is “fully cooperating with the police,” and is “in touch with her husband.”
So far, no charges have been filed, and the incident is still under investigation.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.