‘Rust’ Safety Officer Details Alec Baldwin ‘Yelling’ on Set Over Horse Riding Protocol
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Since production resumed on Rust following the shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, getting the Alec Baldwin-led film back on track hasn’t been easy. Safety officer and consultant Paul Jordan believed the process would be “very straightforward” in the aftermath of the tragedy, but quickly learned otherwise as crew members clashed with Baldwin’s stubborn reluctance to adhere to set protocol — behavior that prosecutors are looking to utilize in the actor’s manslaughter trial.
In a pre-trial interview, Jordan — who will testify against Baldwin in Santa Fe — detailed an encounter on set during which the actor pushed back against safety advisement regarding a horse riding sequence. “There was a little bit of yelling at times, insisting he could do certain things that everyone else felt he couldn’t do,” Jordan testified. Baldwin reportedly wanted to ride at full gallop on uneven terrain despite needing three or four people to help him on and off of the horse. Safety officers on set advised that he engage in nothing more than a light walk, in part because he has a bad hip.
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“We took the gallop out of it completely,” Jordan said. “He just kept insisting that he was capable of doing it, and we didn’t feel he was.” Paired with reports that Baldwin cursed at crew members and rushed them, this information has provided prosecutors with more material to argue that the actor has displayed a pattern of recklessness on set. His alleged mistreatment of the crew occurred in New Mexico, where Rust was filming at a ranch when Baldwin accidentally shot Hutchins in October 2021.
Jordan was hired alongside another veteran safety officer when production resumed in April 2023 and therefore was not on set in New Mexico during the aforementioned incidents. Baldwin’s defense has pushed back against the use of his testimony, arguing in a motion: “Nothing that took place in Montana, more than a year after the accident occurred, is relevant to any issue in this case.”
According to Jordan, who noted “very, very difficult communication” on set, the production was also plagued by budget problems, complaints of poor pay, and touch-and-go decision making. Still, the defense is hoping to maintain a sense of separation within focus points in the trial.
In a motion filed separately, the defense noted: “Baldwin is on trial for involuntary manslaughter, not his attitude … Using isolated clips of an actor playing a cowboy on a movie set as evidence of the actor’s recklessness is like using footage of a boxing match as evidence that the boxer is violent.”
Rust, which wrapped in May 2023, has not yet been set for release.
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