'Rust' Script Supervisor Files Lawsuit Against Alec Baldwin And Producers

Published Nov 17, 2021 3:36 PM

An overhead view of the Bonanza Creek Ranch film set, largely dry brown dirt surroundings with a smattering of green vegetation, along with some larger red, orange, and brown trees. Some dirt roads curve in and out of the site, with around a dozen buildings. One that resembles the center of a town are in rows of small white buildings, with a dusty street separating them. Another building a bit further away appears to be a barn.

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The Rust crew member who made the 9-1-1 call after cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was fatally shot has filed a lawsuit against actor Alec Baldwin and the film's other producers, alleging that they knowingly created unsafe conditions on set.

The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court by script supervisor Mamie Mitchell, claims that she was "standing in the line of fire" when the gun went off. It seeks unspecified damages for assault and infliction of emotional distress.

The complaint alleges that Baldwin never should have pointed the gun toward anyone, which is against established industry safety protocols, and that he "chose” to play Russian Roulette with a loaded gun without checking it.

"The fact that live ammunition was allowed on a movie set, that guns and ammunition were left unattended, that the gun in question was handed to Mr. Baldwin by the Assistant director who had no business doing so," the complaint states, "makes this a case where injury or death was much more than just a possibility — it was a likely result."

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The complaint also claims the scene that Baldwin was apparently rehearsing at the time of the shooting didn't call for him to fire a gun.

During a news conference Wednesday, Mitchell said, "I've worked all over this country and in films where there were guns on the set. I have never before seen anything like what happened on October 21st and I never want to see what happened on that day happen again."

The film's armorer, Hannah Gutierrez Reed, and assistant director David Halls are also named in the suit. In the emergency call that Mitchell made from the film set, she blamed Halls for the shooting, saying, "He's supposed to check the guns. He's responsible for what happens on the set"

This filling comes a week after another "Rust" crew member, gaffer Serge Svetnoy, filed the first negligence lawsuit suit against the film's producers, Gutierrez Reed and Halls.