Actor Swen Temmel
“Suddenly someone collapsed covered in blood”: an eyewitness describes a gunshot accident at Baldwin’s film
Actor Swen Temmel
© Imago Images
Austrian actor Swen Temmel was just a few meters away when Alec Baldwin fired the fatal shot at cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. In an interview he described what he had experienced.
The drama about actor Alec Baldwin shakes Hollywood. The 63-year-old shot the camerawoman Halyna Hutchins and injured the director Joel Souza while filming in the US state of New Mexico. Baldwin was handling a prop gun that was accidentally loaded with a real cartridge that the actor was unaware of. One of those who experienced the tragedy on location is the Austrian actor Swen Temmel.
Swen Temmel played with Alec Baldwin in the western “Rust”
A week ago, the 30-year-old published a photo on his Instagram account that was taken while filming the western “Rust”. “I’m excited to share my latest project with you. It was my childhood dream to play in a western,” commented Temmel on the picture showing him on a horse. He also raved about the wonderful cast and crew that worked on the film.
Now Temmel, who has lived in the USA since 1997 and is now an American citizen, was a direct eyewitness to the gunshot accident. “I was only ten meters away from the scene of the accident,” said the actor in the Austrian newspaper “Kronen Zeitung”. Temmel described the moment of the tragedy as follows: “A shooting was filmed, suddenly someone collapsed covered in blood. I was petrified. It was like a nightmare. Alec Baldwin was completely shocked and collapsed on the set.” Temmel and the killed camerawoman Halyna Hutchins were also private friends. He shared a photo of the 42-year-old on Instagram. “My heart is broken,” Temmel commented on the picture.
Born in Graz, he emigrated to the USA with his parents as a child. His father Charly opened an ice cream parlor in Los Angeles together with Arnold Schwarzenegger in the nineties, where celebrities come and go. Temmel runs a real ice cream empire and has several branches in Austria. In America he mainly supplies supermarkets with his Temmel ice cream. After graduating from school, Swen Temmel completed an apprenticeship at the Lee Strasberg Theater and Film Institute and attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London. The 30-year-old has already shot with stars like Al Pacino, Bruce Willis and Sylvester Stallone.
Sources: “Kronen Zeitung”, Instagram Swen Temmel