Alec Baldwin tells 'Rust' crew 'I don't wanna shoot  toward you' in newly released videos

Five newly released videos from the 2021 set of “Rust,” the Alec Baldwin Western in which an accidental live round from a prop gun killed its cinematographer, show the star rehearsing with a firearm and expressing concerns over crew members’ safety.

NBC News, which posted 3¼ minutes of the roughly 7 minutes it obtained, said the videos are among the dozens that special prosecutors in New Mexico, where filming took place, had requested from the producers this spring and received last month.

The posted footage opens on a weathered door and a crew member yelling, “Action!” The Amityville-born and Massapequa-raised Baldwin, 65, playing one-time outlaw Harland Rust, steps out into what would be a gunfight. He fires a prop pistol six times as his character tries to outmaneuver off-screen attackers.

“One more, one more, one more!” yells Baldwin, also one of the low-budget film’s producers, to the crew. “I forgot to make 12 steps,” an evident reference to the scene’s physical choreography, called “blocking.” “Right away!” he continues. “Let’s reload” the prop pistol, adding “We should’ve had two guns and both were reloading [i.e., being reloaded]” in order to avoid delay.

Later, Baldwin instructs crew members, including the late cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins, “Now, wait a second. I’m gonna shoot [to the] right.” Evidently addressing her, he says, “Do you wanna go on the other side of the camera? I don’t wanna shoot toward you. I wanna shoot close to you.” The scene begins rolling, with Rust on the ground, achily standing up as Brady Noon, the original actor playing his grandson, runs toward him from behind. Together the two run off, and the old gunslinger, now in the background, fires more shots.

In other footage, Rust and his grandson trudge along a trail. An off-screen cameraperson — a different position than cinematographer — falls, and Baldwin breaks character to ask, “Are you OK?” Other crew members ascertain the person and the camera are fine. “You all right?” Baldwin asks again. “Yeah, all good,” the person replies.

A final bit of footage shows the characters again on the trail. After a few seconds, Baldwin says, “Let’s stop. I’m getting nervous because” the cameraperson is walking backward ahead of them on the uneven ground.

“I don’t know why you’re going up hills and all this other — You’re gonna break your … neck,” Baldwin says, adding, “I want you to go on the nicest path and I'm going to follow you.” The cameraperson protests that taking the smoother path would result in unwanted footage of crew members walking a horse in background. The crew discusses options as the footage fades to black.

Hutchins was killed and director Joel Souza injured in the October 2021 accident. “Rust” armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter and tampering with evidence, Charges against Baldwin were dismissed in April, but prosecutors said last month that they hope to refile charges. Baldwin and Hutchins’ estate settled a wrongful-death lawsuit in October 2022.