A haggard-looking Alec Baldwin broke his silence Saturday, declaring his friendship with Halyna Hutchins — the cinematographer he accidentally shot and killed on the set of his film “Rust” last week.
“There are incidental accidents on film sets from time to time, but nothing like this,” Baldwin, who looked forlorn and at times sounded hoarse, told a reporter from BackGrid as he stood on the side of the road in Vermont, with traffic whizzing by behind him. “This is a one in a trillion episode, a one in a trillion event.”
The comments were Baldwin’s first in public since Hutchins was killed during the production of “Rust” in Sante Fe, New Mexico, last week. Director Joel Souza was wounded during the shooting, in which Baldwin accidentally discharged a gun he was reportedly told was “safe.”
Baldwin, in dark pants and a dark jacket over a gray flannel shirt, spoke on what appeared to be a rural road with his wife, Hilaria, at his side filming the interaction on her cellphone.
“A woman died. She was my friend, she was my friend,” said Baldwin. “When I arrived in Sante Fe to start shooting, I took her to dinner.
“We were a very, very well-oiled crew shooting a film together when this horrible event happened.”
At one point, the Baldwins admonished a reporter for apparently failing to know Hutchins’ name.
“You don’t know her name? C’mon,” Baldwin said.
The actor said he welcomes discussions about eliminating guns in Hollywood productions.
“I do know an ongoing effort to limit the use of firearms on a set is something I’m extremely interested in,” he said.
The actor added that “we are in constant contact” with Hutchins’ husband Matthews. The couple had a 9-year-old son.
“We are very worried” about her family, Baldwin said, adding he was “ordered” by the Sante Fe sheriff’s office not to discuss the case.