The new Hulu documentary, Last Take: Rust and the Story of Halyna, which began streaming today, take an in-depth look at the set of Rust. The 2024 independent western— which has still not found U.S. distribution—will forever be remembered as the movie where a prop gun held by star Alec Baldwin fired a live bullet, and killed 42-year-old cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. Through interviews with the crew and behind-the-scenes footage from set, Last Take is a morbidly fascinating attempt to understand how something that never should have happened, happened.
Directed by Hutchins friend and colleague Rachel Mason, Last Take walks viewers through the lead-up to the shooting, and paints a picture of a rushed, chaotic set. That’s hardly unusual for a small, low-budget, independent film. But, as has been widely reported, the atmosphere on Rust was tense enough that half a dozen camera crew workers walked off the set, in part due to safety concerns, on the very same day as the fatal accident. Now, thanks to footage from this new documentary, viewers have more context as to why.
One member of the camera crew, Jonas Huerta, says in the documentary that Baldwin’s presence on set added to the pressure to work faster.
“Things started feeling off when Alec showed up,” Huerta says in the film. “He wasn’t doing anything wrong. An actor of that caliber, with that producer title, was kind of intimidating. The pacing of the set got a little quicker. Things picked up faster. It was a tonal shift.”
Huerta’s interview is preceded by a clip of Baldwin on set, while filming a scene where he shoots blanks from a gun. Audiences see Baldwin, with a frenzied air, instructing the crew to quickly do another take.
“One more, one more, one more!” Baldwin tells the crew in the clip. “Right away, right away, let’s reload!”
Huerta goes on to explain why some of the camera crew, including the first assistant camera, walked off set on the day of the fatal shooting. He said that the team had raised concerns to the producers that were ignored.
“We felt like we weren’t respected, or taken care of, or no one really gave a sh– about us,” Huerta says in the film.
Other crew members claim in the documentary that the camera crew were the “squeaky wheel” on set.
“The camera crew were the dark clouds on our set,” costume designer, Terese Davis, says in the film. “They were rude. They talked crap about everybody.”
Both Baldwin and Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed were charged with one count each of involuntary manslaughter, for the accidental killing of Hutchins. Gutierrez-Reed was found guilty and was sentenced to 18 months in prison. Baldwin’s charges with dismissed with prejudice, when a judge ruled the prosecution withheld evidence.