Rust director Joel Souza is hopeful that people will “give it [the movie] a chance.” The director recently addressed those who are reluctant to watch the film three years following cinematographer Halyna Hutchins’ death in an accidental on-set shooting in 2021.
The 51-year-old candidly discussed his years-long collaboration with Rust star Alec Baldwin. He also talked about Hutchins’ legacy and the public’s reception during an interview on Wednesday, November 20. The interview came after Rust premiered at the 2024 Camerimage Festival in Poland.
Joel Souza Has No “Hard Feelings” For Those Who Won’t Watch Rust
“If people don’t want to watch this movie, for any reason, they certainly don’t need to and there’s no hard feelings from me,” Souza told The Hollywood Reporter. “But what I hope is that people give it a chance — and if they do, that they look closely at the visual aspects, particularly the cinematography.”
“It’s a very unique opportunity to look through Halyna’s eyes and see how she saw the world,” he continued. “How much she is missed is evidenced by the fact that so many people came back to finish this film for her. They came back and stepped into a very difficult and loaded situation because they were touched by her, and it was important to them to finish this for her,” Souza shared.
The Controversy Surrounding Rust Movie
On October 21, 2021, Hutchins, who was 42 at the time, lost her life after a prop gun Alec Baldwin, 66, held discharged during a rehearsal in New Mexico. Souza was also injured after the bullet struck the shoulder. Baldwin insisted that he didn’t pull the trigger or was unaware the prop gun contained live ammunition.
In January, Baldwin was indicted on an involuntary manslaughter charge. However, the case was dropped in July after his prosecutors argued that the prosecution withheld evidence. Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to 18 months in prison in September.
Joel Souza On Why He Wants People To Watch Rust
Souza hopes that viewers will come to watch Rust to honor Hutchins. “A large part of our business only got to know Halyna’s name because of what happened to her — and I think that’s a shame,” the director told the outlet. “So if you watch the film, you’ll get to look through her eyes and get to understand a little more about the artist she was.”
Souza also went on to speak about his favorite sequence that Hutchins created. “Some of the horseriding montage shots are stunningly beautiful,” he told the outlet. “But there’s one we did together that I love, which is where Frances Fisher’s character has just come to town and she’s standing in this courtroom, speaking to these sort of town fathers.”
“She’s silhouetted in the doorway, and we do this long, slow push-in for about a minute of dialog, and we have the actors staggered at different lengths. And it’s just a beautiful, powerful shot,” Souza continued. The director recalled that he and Hutchins had to devise an impromptu alternate shooting strategy due to “terrible weather.”
“So Halyna and I sort of huddled together and came up with a way to do it in one [take] — and it was very exciting for the camera team. They were excited about it because we were trying something cool, and we all kind of knew in our gut that it completely worked,” Souza remembered.
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