More than four years since it initially began filming, the trailer for the controversial movie Rust is here. The western starring Alec Baldwin first premiered at the Camerimage Festival in Poland in November and received a “polite” response, according to Variety.
Of course, the film’s production was overshadowed by tragedy when Baldwin accidentally misfired a prop gun, killing the cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins. (The film’s director, Joe Souza, was also injured in the incident.)
In January 2023, Baldwin was charged with involuntary manslaughter over his role in Hutchins’ death, though the charges were dropped in July 2024 due to Baldwin’s team’s allegations that the prosecution had hidden evidence. In October 2024, a judge upheld that dismissal.
The film’s armorer, Hannah Gutierrez Reed, was also charged with involuntary manslaughter, and she is currently serving an 18-month sentence.
Souza, the director, paid tribute to Hutchins at the film’s premiere in Poland. “We are here in a place that she loved so much, probably second only to being on set,” he said. “I want to thank you all for coming and for taking a few hours out of your day to come celebrate my friend and to celebrate her art and her talent. She really was something.”
Bianca Cline, the cinematographer who finished the movie, told PEOPLE in 2024, “I’m in awe of how much people admired [Hutchins] and just how talented she is. I think that cinematographers sometimes get relegated to being seen as technicians, but I think that Halyna elevated it to an art.”
While there’s been some criticism about the decision to release the film that resulted in a crewmember’s death, a representative for Rust Movie Productions told NPR last year that the call to distribute the movie was made “with the full support of Halyna’s family.”
“None of the producers of Rust stand to benefit financially from the film,” the statement read. “The suggestion that those involved in completing Halyna Hutchins’ film were motivated by profit is disrespectful to those who worked tirelessly to honor her legacy.”
Rust is set in Kansas in 1880, where a 13-year-old orphan named Lucas (played by Patrick Scott McDermott) “accidentally kills a rancher and is sentenced to hang,” according to the film’s description. Lucas’s grandfather, the outlaw Harland Rust (played by Baldwin), breaks him out of jail and the two escape to Mexico, dodging a bounty hunter and U.S. Marshal, who are set on capturing the duo and bringing them to justice.
Watch the trailer below:
Rust will play in select theaters and be available to stream digitally on May 2.
