Alec Baldwin claims he ‘didn’t pull the trigger’ in first interview since Rust movie shooting

Alec Baldwin has given a stunning first sit-down interview about the Rust movie set tragedy, with new details about the fatal shooting.

Alec Baldwin has sat down for his first interview about the deadly Rust set shooting.

Alec Baldwin says he has “no idea” how a live bullet ended up in his prop gun and insists he “didn’t pull the trigger” before cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was shot dead on the Rust film set.

The 30 Rock actor spoke with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on Tuesday for an 80-minute interview that will air on Thursday evening in the US.

“The trigger wasn’t pulled. I didn’t pull the trigger,” Baldwin said in a preview clip of the interview released on Wednesday.

“I would never point a gun at anyone and pull the trigger at them, never,” he said.

“Someone put a live bullet in a gun, a bullet that wasn’t even supposed to be on the property,” Baldwin said in the interview.

The preview scenes show Baldwin crying and placing his head in his hands, as he told Stephanopoulos the shooting was the worst thing that ever happened to him.

It didn’t “seem real” Ms Hutchins was dead.

“I mean, even now I find it hard to believe that [she’s gone], he said.

The Good Morning America anchor described the discussion as “raw” and “intense” while announcing it on the breakfast show, Wednesday morning local time.

“I’ve done thousands of interviews in the last 20 years at ABC,” Stephanopoulos said.

“This was the most intense I have ever experienced.

“He was so raw, as you can imagine he was devastated, but he was also very candid, he was very forthcoming, he answered every question, he talked about Halyna Hutchins, meeting her family as well, and he talked in detail about what happened on the set that day.

“And I have to tell you I was surprised in many places over the course of that hour and 20 minutes we sat down yesterday.”

AN @ABC EXCLUSIVE: @GStephanopoulos has the 1st exclusive interview with Alec Baldwin following the deadly shooting on the set of “Rust.”

Watch the primetime special event TOMORROW 8pm ET on ABC and stream next day on @Hulu. pic.twitter.com/bQhUPfKDcW

— ABC News (@ABC) December 1, 2021

In late October, Baldwin was rehearsing a scene on the Rust set in New Mexico when he fired a prop gun loaded with live ammunition, killing Hutchins and injuring director Joel Souza.

The incident has spurred an investigation approved by a judge into how live rounds wound up in the gun.

Criminal charges have not been laid or ruled out, as the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office is trying to determine how the tragic event occurred.

US actor Alec Baldwin. Picture: Angela Weiss / AFP.

Serge Svetnoy and Halyna Hutchins. Picture: Supplied

The 63-year-old actor spoke informally on a roadside to members of the media who had been following his vehicle in the first days after the shooting.

“She was my friend,” Baldwin said about Hutchins.

“The day I arrived in Santa Fe and started shooting, I took her to dinner with Joel [Souza], the director.

“We were a very, very well-oiled crew shooting a film together, and then this horrible event happened.”

Baldwin added that he was “not allowed to make any comments because it’s an ongoing case”.

“I’ve been ordered by the sheriff’s department in Santa Fe. I can’t answer any questions about the investigation. I can’t. It’s an active investigation in terms of a woman dying.”

He also called the “Rust” shooting “a one-in-a-trillion episode”.

Before that, in a series of now-deleted tweets, Baldwin wrote, “I’m fully co-operating with the police investigation to address how this tragedy occurred and I am in touch with her husband, offering my support to him and his family”

Originally published as Alec Baldwin claims he ‘didn’t pull the trigger’ in first interview since Rust movie shooting