Halyna Hutchins: 'Rust' crew member killed by Alec Baldwin was a 'restless dreamer'
Hayla Hutchins, a Ukrainian woman who worked as a Director of Photography in Hollywood films, was identified as the woman shot and killed by actor Alec Baldwin with a prop gun in New Mexico. Hutchins, who called herself a "restless dreamer", died when a prop gun discharged. She was the director of photography for Baldwin’s film 'Rust'.
According to reports, the prop gun misfired while Baldwin was holding it on the New Mexico movie set. An “independent feature”, 'Rust' is being shot near Santa Fe. Baldwin, when questioned by authorities, was seen in tears. Authorities are now trying “to determine if the incident was an accident” as well as “what type of projectile was discharged”.
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Who was Hayla Hutchins?
Hayla Hutchins described herself on her Facebook profile as the “Director of Photography at ICG: International Cinematographers Guild (IATSE Local 600).” Her website says that she "is a Los Angeles based union cinematographer who graduated from the AFI conservatory in 2015 and has since established a track record of successful narrative features. Halyna was selected as one of the American Cinematographers’ Rising Stars of 2019 as well as a cinematographer for the 21st Century Fox DP Lab in 2018. Her work on Adam Egypt Mortimer’s art-house superhero action film Archenemy, starring Joe Manganiello, premiered at Beyond Fest 2020 and was in official competition at the Sitges International Film Festival, receiving a nomination for Best Motion Picture."
Hutchins, originally from Ukraine, grew up on a Soviet military base in the Arctic Circle "surrounded by reindeer and nuclear submarines". She has a graduate degree in International Journalism from Kyiv National University in Ukraine and has worked with British documentary productions in Europe, previously as an investigative journalist.
"Halyna’s recent work also includes Blindfire, racially charged cop drama written and directed by Mike Nell starring Brian Geraghty (The Hurt Locker, TNT’s The Alienist) and Sharon Leal (Supergirl, Instinct),winner of Best Crime Drama at the Houston International Film Festival, 2020," her website says. "Darlin’, a horror feature lensed by Hutchins and directed by Pollyanna McIntosh (The Walking Dead), has premiered at the SXSW film festival 2019 with limited theatrical release in the US while playing internationally at the Edinburgh Film Festival, Fantasia, London FrightFest, BiFan, Sitges, Galway Film Fleadh (Best International Film nomination), Fangoria Chainsaw Awards (Best First Feature nomination)."
After being shot, Hutchins was taken to the University of New Mexico Hospital, where medical personnel declared her dead. Her last Facebook posts are from the time she was working on the film set. Posting a beautiful picture of the sky, she wrote, "Incredible sky of New Mexico at Bonanza Creek Ranch." "Our IATSE solidarity stand on RUST," she captioned another photo.
