Alec Baldwin set for screen return in Italian Christmas films
The roles will be his first since the fatal shooting of Halyna Hutchins in October last year
By Joe Goggins
Alec Baldwin will return to movie screens later this year in a pair of Italian Christmas films.
Per Variety, the ’30 Rock’ star is expected in Rome this week to shoot the pictures, both of which will star both Baldwin and his brother Daniel. They are co-producing the films, which are titled ‘Kid Santa’ and ‘Billie’s Magic World’. Minerva Pictures, the production company, say Baldwin will arrive in the Italian capital on Saturday (March 26). Daniel Baldwin is already in Rome.
The movies will mark the first screen appearances by Baldwin since the cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was shot dead on the set of the western ‘Rust’ in New Mexico in October of last year. Baldwin was rehearsing a scene in which his character was to draw a revolver from its holster when the gun went off and a live round struck both Hutchins and director Joel Souza. Hutchins succumbed to her injuries after being airlifted to a Santa Fe hospital; Souza, who was struck in the shoulder, survived.
Hutchins’ death and the surrounded controversy has continued to follow Baldwin, not least because a litany of legal proceedings are ongoing. A criminal investigation by the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office continues; no charges have yet been filed. Elsewhere, Hutchins’ widower, Matthew Hutchins, criticised Baldwin in an interview last month, specifically over the actor’s claim in an extensive interview with ABC News last December that he did not feel responsible for Hutchins’ death.
Baldwin was a producer on ‘Rust’, which was beset by the departures of crew members even before Hutchins was killed. Camera assistant Lane Luper walked off the production the day before Hutchins’ death, citing an unsafe work environment. It remains unclear how live ammunition made it onto the set.
Irish actress Elva Trill, who will next be seen in ‘Jurassic World Dominion’ in June, has also signed up for the films. The director will be Francesco Cinquemani, who previously worked with Baldwin’s younger brother William on last year’s ‘The Christmas Witch’. Baldwin himself previously collaborated with Cinquemani on the sci-fi flick ‘Andron: The Black Labyrinth’ in 2014.