The Biggest Revelations from Hulu’s Rust Documentary That Explores Halyna Hutchins' Final Moments

Halyna Hutchins' life and last moments are the focus of a new documentary, Last Take: Rust and the Story of Halyna.

The documentary, which premieres on Hulu Tuesday, March 11, examines the death of cinematographer Hutchins on the set of the movie Rust. Directed by Hutchins’ friend, filmmaker Rachel Mason, the project includes footage of first responders arriving on the New Mexico set of the Western film in 2021 after the incident that resulted in the Rust cinematographer’s death at 42.

Interviews include the movie's director Joel Souza, who was hit by the same bullet as Hutchins, as well as actors Frances Fisher, Josh Hopkins and Devon Werkheiser, and Hutchins' mother Olga.

Alec Baldwin and two Rust crew members — armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed and first assistant director Dave Halls — were charged with Hutchins' death. Only Halls participated in the documentary, but Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed appear in never-before-seen footage from the movie set the day of Hutchins' death. The documentary also follows their individual trials.

Baldwin, 66, was indicted last January after a gun he was holding on the set of Rust discharged in October 2021, killing Hutchins. The charge was dismissed last July after Baldwin's attorneys alleged prosecutors had buried evidence. Gutierrez-Reed, 28, who was responsible for overseeing prop weapons on the Rust set, was sentenced to 18 months in prison, the maximum penalty, in April. Halls, who expresses guilt over Hutchins' death in the doc, plead guilty to the charge of negligent use of a deadly weapon.

Here are the biggest revelations from the Rust documentary.

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How Rust cast and crew learned about Halyna’s death

On the day of the shooting, Rust cast and crew were filming at Bonanza Creek Ranch near Santa Fe. Baldwin and Hutchins were rehearsing a scene where he cross draws his weapon and points it at the camera. Terese Magpale Davis, a costume designer for the movie, says she heard what sounded like an “explosion.” Both Hutchins and Souza were hit by a live round fired from the gun in Baldwin’s hand. 

Hutchins was transported by helicopter to the University of New Mexico Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Souza was taken by ambulance to Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center.

Last Take shows footage of cast and crew awaiting updates on Hutchins and Souza the day of the shooting, with many sitting within a large tent as news helicopters flew overhead. Hopkins, who plays Sheriff Wood Helm in Rust, remembers “a medic came down and said she was going to be alright” and he, as well as others, “clung onto that” hopeful information. 

Baldwin was being questioned by police when he learned that Halyna had died. Previously released police footage of the actor, who maintains that he did not pull the trigger but cocked the gun and it went off, sitting speechless with his hand over his mouth is shown in the doc. 

As for the cast and crew on the set of Rust, they learned about Halyna’s death not from police but from news outlets 

“What’s so f----- is before — we had cops at set and we had people from production at the hospital — before we heard anything officially that she had passed, it came out online,” Werkheiser says.

“All of a sudden, I just started seeing pockets of people as they read the news, just started seeing pockets of people just like break down,” Werkheiser adds. “You’re trying to hold onto hope and it was the worst possible outcome for the day.”

Frances Fisher felt unsafe her first day on Rust

Titanic star Frances Fisher, who stars in Rust as Evelyn Bassett, recounts her first day on the set of the Western movie and noticing armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed walking around with a bunch of guns in her arms.

"My first day coming out of hair and makeup in my full costume, and Alec is at base camp and he's in his costume, this girl comes over and interrupts our conversation," Fisher says. "She's got an armful of guns, just barreled her way in, and I thought its very unsafe to be walking around base camp with a whole bunch of guns in your hand. Like, have they been cleared? Why are you doing this? And Alec, he seemed a little, 'What's she doing?' Then I found out she was the armorer. I thought, wow."

Later in the documentary, Fisher reflects on what she noticed and felt those initial days on set and whether she should have spoken up.

"Sloppiness. It's just pure sloppiness. Unprofessional," she later says of Gutierrez-Reed's handling of guns.

"The sloppiness that Hannah displayed that first day of mine. I wish I had said something to her and I wish I had said something to Alec," Fisher says. "But I didn't want to make waves. And would my alerting somebody, would that have changed anything? That's what gnaws at me"

Rust crew says camera crew quitting on "most important day" of filming led to Halyna's death

Several crew members interviewed for the documentary expressed the day Hutchins died was a crucial filming day. Production was severely impacted when Lane Luper, first camera assistant on the movie, along with half a dozen other members of the camera department walked off the set in protest of poor working conditions, it's alleged in the film.

Hutchins was reportedly stunned by the decision for them to walk, but rallied with Souza to work with just one camera.

"They chose to walk out on the day we were having the biggest shootout of the whole show," special effects coordinator Thomas Gandy says in the doc. "99 percent of the time, you got a tent that's got a number of video monitors. They are showing the camera's view. The director and the DP, typically, they stand in video village where they look at the exact shot that's going to be on film. They're 20 to 30 feet away. So, that day, there was a walkout. We didn't have video village that day. And so, because of that, it put Halyna and Joel in front of the camera."

Documentary director Mason says to Gandy, "So the only thing between her and the gun was her own hands?" Gandy nods and says, "Yes, yes."

Rust camera assistant who quit says he never told Hutchins he felt the set was unsafe

Luper explains in the documentary how a mix of issues on set led to the camera crew walking out, such as "lax COVID policies, gun safety, lack of rehearsals."

"It felt like they really didn't care about the crew being safe. We wanted them to solve these problems. It very quckly felt like somebody was going to get hurt if something didn’t change," Luper adds. "Seeing how firearms were handled on set began to really bother me," he continues, noting that multiple negligent discharges on set were also troubling.

When asked whether he ever told Hutchins about his concerns with set safety, Luper says, "I was worried about her safety but I didn't get a chance. I didn't tell her... I should have."

David Halls knew armorer was inexperienced but was hired due to her father's reputation

Despite Gutierrez-Reed having a lack of experience as an armorer, Halls shares in the documentary that what she lacked for professionally was "tempered" by the fact her father was famous stuntman, armorer and movie consultant Thell Reed.

"I knew that she had little experience," Halls admits in Last Take. "But concern over lack of experience was tempered by knowing that her father was Thell Reed."

Ahead of Gutierrez-Reed's trial, her father defended her during an interview with Good Morning America, saying he was not concerned she would face jail time. "I'm not worried about that at all," he said.

Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was instructed not to focus on guns on Rust

Last Take tracks how the New Mexico Occupational Health and Safety Bureau (OHS Bureau) investigated Rust's movie set in October 2021. The investigation found safety failures that violated industry protocols.

In footage of Gutierrez-Reed being questioned by OSHA, she is asked if she had enough time and resources to perform her job duties. "Absolutely not," Gutierrez-Reed responds.

The doc reveals Gutierrez-Reed was paid to work eight days as an armorer and the rest of her time on set was as prop assistant. Email exchanges are shown between Gutierrez-Reed and Gabrielle Pickle, a line producer for the movie, who tells the armorer she was spending too much time on firearms.

"However, it has been brought to my attention that you are focusing far more on Armor and not supporting props as needed," an email from Pickle to Gutierrez-Reed says.

“When I’m forced to do both [jobs], that’s when mistakes get made like [a] shotgun being unattended," Gutierrez-Reed responds, mentioning an incident on set where a firearm was left unattended.

Gutierrez-Reed adds in her OSHA interview that Pickle ultimately refused more training days to happen with Baldwin despite the armorer suggesting it should happen.

Halyna's mother says she wanted Rust to continue production to honor her late daughter

Near the end of the documentary, several cast and crew share how it felt to resume filming despite such tragedy.

Hopkins said he wouldn't return unless Hutchins' husband, Matt, told him he was comfortable.

"They said Matt [Halyna's husband] wants it done. I said, 'Look, I believe you. But I'm not coming back for anything unless I hear it from his mouth.' They put me on a Zoom with him. He said he wanted it finished and she would want it finished and people to see her work," Hopkins shares.

Halyna's mother Olga, who was interviewed in Ukraine, also shared that sentiment, explaining that following the loss of her daughter, she wanted her daughter's work to be honored. "I wanted this to happen," she says. "Maybe some people didn't want it. But I wanted this to happen because it was a big work of Halyna. She wanted this movie to be finished."

"I also wanted this to happen for Andros. I want him to be proud of is mother," Olga says of Hutchins' young son. "I will watch the movie. Absolutely. I want to see my daughter’s work. It's her big work."

Last Take: Rust and the Story of Halyna releases on Hulu on March 11.