Should Rust continue production: Charges dropped against Alec Baldwin but is this the end of legal woes?

Charges of involuntary manslaughter are set to be dropped in the case regarding the shooting on the set of Alec Baldwin’s movie Rust, it was announced overnight. Variety reported that the special prosecutors in the case said that new facts had come to light that make it impossible to proceed against Baldwin in the time allotted, as production on the film has once again begun in New Mexico. 

In response to the news, Alec Baldwin’s lawyers Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro, released their own statement, reading: “We are pleased with the decision to dismiss the case against Alec Baldwin and we encourage a proper investigation into the facts and circumstances of this tragic accident.”

In US law, a charge of involuntary manslaughter has to have a prosecutor prove that the defendant, Baldwin in this case, caused the death of another person through reckless or negligent conduct. Recent information in the case brought to light that the Colt .45 that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza was in some way modified - with defence lawyers for the actor claiming that there is no definitive proof that Baldwin did indeed pull the trigger of the gun in question. 

Therefore, in terms of US law, there is not enough burden of proof to charge Baldwin with involuntary manslaughter, leading Santa Fe district attorneys involved in the case set to drop the charges “without prejudice,” meaning that the case could be refiled later, perhaps with a lesser charge - death by misadventure being one of those lesser charged potentially filed. 

This means that Baldwin is not off the hook yet, though his lawyers seem confident that in time their client will no doubt be fully vindicated from his involvement in the tragic accident. But while the eyes of the law might deem Alec Baldwin innocent, the court of public opinion may have different ideas.

It comes as no surprise that Baldwin has a number of critics online, many of which brought about after recordings were released of his phone calls to then estranged daughter Ireland Baldwin. He has also drawn the ire of Trumplicans during his tenure on Saturday Night Live portraying former President Donald Trump, though this role has since been taken over by cast member James Austin Johnson. 

In fact, those Trump supporters are currently out in force on Elon Musk’s Twitter platform, asking questions how Alec Baldwin can have charges dropped when he, in their view, quite literally shot someone and walked away free as a bird, while Trump has been arrested for 34 felony counts. The more pragmatic question though is, with production resuming, should Rust continue after the bad karma surrounding the film that Baldwin is also producing. 

Despite the charges being dropped, an investigation by prosecutors is still being carried out, and among the reasons for their decision to no longer proceed with the May 3 court hearing is that they had little time to do anything with the new information; this comes from Baldwin and his team refusing to waive statutory deadlines in order to not allow the prosecutors ample time to prepare.

From a box office standpoint, Rust is still so early in production that projected figures are unavailable to be made yet - however, IMDB states that the production costs are set at $7 million USD (£5.6 million), which in Hollywood terms is a mere drop in the water compared to other production costs. However, with Baldwin’s production company El Dorado Pictures involved it might be the case they cannot afford another loss at the box office.

According to the box office website The Numbers, the last three productions that El Dorado Pictures were involved in did not make their money back - though no production costs were given on the website regarding the 2019 movie Before You Know It and the 2021 movie Beast Beast, they have demonstrated that another 2021 production, Crown Vic (which happened to be the first time director Joel Souza and Alec Baldwin worked with each other) had a production cost of $3.6 million USD (£2.9 million) and made back only $3,868. 

In total, with the information The Numbers provided, the grand total of box office revenue from the films totals $155,175 all up - against the solitary figure of $3.6 million USD for Crown Vic, it doesn’t look too promising for the fledgling production house, especially after being embroiled in the death of Hutchins. 

The cursed production also saw a second medical emergency occur a month after the shooting, when lamp operator and pipe rigger Jason Miller was bitten in the arm by a brown recluse spider while closing the set. Miller suffered necrosis and sepsis. He was hospitalised and underwent multiple surgeries to avoid amputation of his arm. Almost akin to the on-set issues that faced the “cursed” production of The Exorcist, the crew have decided to soldier on even after two very evident omens. 

There is finally the always subjective moral implications of the release of Rust; will people still wish to go and see a movie which was fraught with controversy? Will the editing team include any scene that was filmed in the lead up and after the subsequent discharge of the Colt .45? Or will there be a macabre set of film fans who will go and watch the film on the off chance they can recognise when in the film the shooting took place, much like a sect of Brandon Lee fans watching The Crow carefully to spot the moment the late son of Bruce Lee was killed due to a firearm accident? 

This, unfortunately, is one of those moments where we open the filing cabinet at PeopleWorld and include the future of Rust under the “watch this space” category. Needless to say, perhaps it might be too soon for Baldwin and his team to celebrate what could end up being a Pyrrhic victory for the actor.