The mother and sister of Halyna Hutchins – the late cinematographer who was fatally shot on-set during filming – have seen “Rust” and found it “stunning.” They encouraged audiences to go see film in Hutchins’ memory.
Olga Solovey, Hutchins’s mom, and Svetlana Zemko, her sister, toasted her final movie’s theatrical release. Solovey urged as many people to see it as possible to “remember her for as long as they can.”
“I watched my daughter’s stunning film twice. I was so happy for the success of my daughter because it was filmed so beautifully,” Solovey said. “I would want everybody to watch it because it was the dream of my daughter and she would want people to see it. I would want people to see the talent, the beauty, the success, and I’m just so immensely proud of her. She had a very specific style of cinematography and she saw the world differently. She could see and capture how the sun sets and how animals behaved. She saw the beauty of it all. She could capture it. She could capture nature. I like the film. I want many people to watch it, and I would want more people to remember her for as long as they can.”
Hutchins’s sister Zemko added: “The film is amazing, very beautiful and colorful, the shots are just amazing, the composition, the light, even the weather in the frame transfers through the screen. The film is brilliant. Everyone should see Gala’s work; this is high professionalism and high-level artistry. The film is strong. I would want Gala to be remembered not for the tragedy but for her talent and hard work.”
The release comes three and a half years after star Alec Baldwin – who plays an aging gunslinger in the western – was rehearsing a shot before a take and the gun went off, killing Hutchins. Baldwin was found not responsible for manslaughter when a trial dismissed in July 2024 once the court determined that New Mexico police and prosecutors deliberately withheld evidence — live bullets relevant to the case — from the defense team.
TheWrap reviewer William Bibbiani explained that it was impossible to separate the tragedy that occurred on-set from the movie itself.
“‘Rust’s’ sadness, guilt and grief are amplified by the unfortunate fact of the film’s own existence, the tragedy that took place mid-production,” he wrote. “Let’s be clear: that cannot make it better. The very implication is ghoulish. But it does have an impact, and it leaves the film with an aura that’s inexorably grim. ‘Rust’ is about death, it’s about grief, it’s about collateral damage.
“That’s what the plot is about too.”
