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Alec Baldwin broke down in tears in his first interview since the fatal shooting of Halyna Hutchins on the set of Rust.
The actor, 63, accidentally shot and killed cinematographer Hutchins when a prop gun he was holding went off during filming for the Western in New Mexico.
In his first interview since her death in October, Baldwin broke down in tears while speaking to Good Morning America host George Stephanopoulos.
In a promotional clip shared on Twitter, Baldwin said of Hutchins: “She was someone who was loved by everyone who worked with her, liked by everyone she worked with and admired.
“Even now, I find it hard to believe that, it just doesn’t seem real to me.”
In the exclusive interview, Stephanopoulos asked: “It wasn’t in the script for the trigger to be pulled?”
Baldwin replied: “Well the trigger wasn’t pulled, I did not pull the trigger… No, no, no, no, no, I would never point a gun at anyone and pull a trigger at them, never.”
Asked “how did a real bullet get on that set?”, the actor replied: “I have no idea, someone put a live bullet in a gun, a bullet that wasn’t even supposed to be on the property.”
Stephanopoulos also asked: “I think the big question, and the one you must have asked yourself a thousand times, how could this have happened?
“You’ve described it as a one-in-a-trillion shot and the gun was in your hand, how do you come to terms with that?”
The full interview will air on ABC in the US at 1am GMT on Friday.
Authorities have pursued new leads on possible sources of live ammunition, as they searched the premises of an Albuquerque-based firearms and ammunition supplier.
The search took place after a provider of firearms and ammunition to the ill-fated movie production for Rust told investigators that he “may know” where live rounds came from, describing ammunition he received from a friend in the past that had been “reloaded” by assembly from parts.
A revolver fired by Baldwin during a Rust rehearsal on October 21 killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and left a projectile lodged in the shoulder of director Joel Souza, for doctors later to remove.
Baldwin was told the revolver was “cold” and had no live rounds, investigators say.
Seth Kenney and his business PDQ Arm & Prop provided movie-prop ammunition and weapons to the Rust production.
Kenney told a detective on October 29 that “a couple years back, he received reloaded ammunition from a friend,” and that the ammunition stood out in his memory because of a star-shaped company logo, according to an affidavit from the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office that is leading the investigation.
Kenney could not be reached independently for comment. A sheriff’s office spokesman declined to elaborate on details in the search warrant.
Investigators initially found 500 rounds of ammunition at the movie set on the outskirts of Santa Fe — a mix of blanks, dummy rounds and what appeared to be live rounds. Industry experts have said live rounds should never be on set.
Investigators have described “some complacency” in how weapons were handled on the Rust set. They have said it is too soon to determine whether charges will be filed, amid independent civil lawsuits concerning liability in the fatal shooting.
Tuesday’s search-warrant affidavit contains some new details about the handling and loading of the gun that killed Hutchins before it was handed to Baldwin by an assistant director.
Investigators say that the armourer on the film, Hannah Gutierrez Reed, loaded the gun with five dummy rounds on October 21, but struggled to add a sixth round before a lunch break, when the revolver was locked in a truck. The final round was added after lunch when the gun was cleaned.
Gutierrez Reed “stated the guns were checked on set, however, she didn’t really check it too much (the firearm), due to it being locked up at lunch,” according to the new affidavit.
Another movie crew member, the prop master for Rust, told investigators that ammunition was purchased from at least three sources for the production.
Jason Bowles, an attorney for Gutierrez Reed, called the search for evidence in Albuquerque a huge step forward toward determining the source of ammunition on the Rust set.
Investigators also described conversations with Gutierrez Reed’s father — sharpshooter and movie consultant Thell Reed, who is not listed as a participant on Rust.
Thell Reed said that prior to the Rust production he supplied Kenney with a can of live ammunition, during a firing-range training session for film actors. Reed said Kenney took a can of that ammunition back to New Mexico.
After the shooting, the prop master on the set shook a box of dummy rounds on the set for their characteristic rattle and said they did not rattle, possibly indicating live rounds.