Alec Baldwin Doesn’t Want to See the ‘Rust’ Final Cut

"I haven’t seen the film. But, again, I hope the film is released, that it comes out. That it makes its money back for its investors," the actor said told Variety.

In his first interview about the film since “Rust” premiered at the EnergaCamerImage film festival last week, Alec Baldwin said he doesn’t want to see the final cut of “Rust” — but he hopes it gets sold and released.

“I haven’t seen the film,” Baldwin told Variety at the Torino Film Festival. “I hope the film is released, that it comes out. That it makes its money back for its investors. You never want these people who believed in your project to be left high and dry.”

Not only has he not seen the movie, he can’t bring himself to do so.

“Right now, no. Only because this is obviously the most difficult thing I’ve ever dealt with in my life,” Baldwin said. “Beyond the victims themselves, the thing that most pains me is what it did to my wife. My wife has been very, very traumatized from this. There has been a lot of pain. When you are married to somebody and everything was going fairly well and we had seven kids … and the floor falls out. It’s very frightening and very disturbing. And we are trying to get the wind in our sails, to get away from this stuff. Because the film doesn’t stand by itself. It’s always going to be overshadowed by this.”

Baldwin is now more than three years removed from the October 21, 2021 accident in which the gun he held and pointed at the camera while rehearsing discharged a live round, killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins while she was beside it. This summer, Baldwin stood trial for an involuntary manslaughter charge over Hutchins’ death, but the case was dismissed.

Baldwin still faces a civil suit brought by Hutchins’ mother, Olga Solovey. Ahead of the film’s EnergaCamerImage premiere, Solovey accused Baldwin of refusing to take responsibility for his actions and that “he seeks to unjustly profit from his killing of my daughter.” Solovey is one of many who felt “Rust” should not be seen or showcased in the wake of Hutchins’ death.

But per a contractual agreement to settle another civil suit with Matt Hutchins, Halyna’s widow, Baldwin, and director Joel Souza agreed to finish the film, make Halyna’s husband an executive producer, and donate any of the proceeds from the film’s sale to a fund for Halyna’s son. Baldwin in the interview vehemently denied that he is trying to profit from the film.

“I hope the movie is sold, and that he gets his money,” Baldwin said. “We all made a deal with him and we all want to follow through. But this idea that people — who shall remain nameless — say, “You are profiting from this!” That is absolutely wrong.”

Baldwin finally added he hopes to put the tragedy of “Rust” behind him.

“For now, I want all things “Rust” to just leave my windshield, so I can go and do other things and be a father to my children,” he said. “At this age, I’m 66 years old, and you want to have the energy for your kids. The last two years of this situation have just hammered me, just drained me. And I have an obligation like any other man who is a father, or couples of fathers — two men who have children, whatever — we have an obligation to save some of our best for our kids. And that’s been the tough part for me.”

Read Baldwin’s full interview with Variety here.