Actor Alec Baldwin is set to make an acting comeback in two Italian Christmas comedies five months after the gun Baldwin was holding discharged, killing Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
The actor and his brother William Baldwin are flying to Italy to shoot Kid Santa and Billie’s Magic World, two live-action and animation-hybrid family comedies in which the Baldwins will be appearing, according to a report by Deadline.
Filming has already begun in Rome, Italy, for the two projects, according to the Italian news organization ANSA.
Baldwin is busy making his movie comeback amid a legal battle, in which Hutchins’ widower Matt Hutchins filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the actor and other Rust crew members. On October 21 last year, Baldwin fatally shot Hutchins while rehearsing inside a church on the set of Rush in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Matt Hutchins has called Baldwin skirting blame for Halyna’s death “absurd.”
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Earlier this month Baldwin responded to the lawsuits seeking to hold him accountable for last year’s fatal shooting, claiming that he is being targeted because he is wealthy, noting that he has “deep pockets.”
But the lawsuit also accuses Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed of being unqualified for the job, the film’s assistant director Dave Halls, who told an investigator that he did not check all of the rounds in the gun before handing it to Baldwin, and Seth Kenney, who supplied guns and ammunition for the film, reports New York Times.
A few weeks ago, Hutchins’ lawyer slammed Baldwin for his “shameful” claim that Matt Hutchins “derailed” the completion of the film. Court documents say the actor wanted to “finish the $7 million budgeted movie to in part contribute to a settlement for the Hutchins family.”
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