Article #995

Last Take: Rust and the Story of Halyna pays tribute to the cinematographer killed in a freak on-set accident

Anyone who loved Halyna Hutchins expected her to become a name. At 42, Hutchins had worked her way from photojournalism to cinematography, building an impressive portfolio that was beginning to court attention in Hollywood. Her work alone attracted Joel Souza, a writer-director, who hired her in 2021 to be his director of photography for a new western called Rust, to film in Santa Fe that October. “She absolutely would have become a household name as a cinematographer,” said Rachel Mason, one of Hutchins’s close friends and the director of the new Hulu documentary Last Take: Rust and the Story of Halyna. “Anyone who knew her had absolutely no doubt she was going to be on the highest level, winning awards, becoming well-known for that.”

Hutchins didn’t get the chance. Instead, she became a household name in death, after a weapon actor Alec Baldwin was holding accidentally discharged during filming, which unbeknownst to him, was loaded with live rounds. A bullet from the prop revolver passed through Hutchins, who was leaning in close directing the camera, and lodged in Souza’s shoulder. Souza was hospitalized and recovered.