“A woman and mother and a deeply admired colleague” – this is how US actor Alec Baldwin calls Halyna Hutchins. He and the camerawoman have had a tragedy since Thursday: while shooting his new film Rust Baldwin fired a prop gun at Bonanza Creek Ranch near Santa Fe, injuring Hutchins in the process. In the hospital to which a helicopter took her, only her death could be determined.
Hutchins was born in Ukraine 42 years ago. According to her Website she grew up on a Soviet military base in the Arctic Circle, “surrounded by reindeer and nuclear submarines”. She studied journalism in Kiev and later made documentaries across Europe. Then she went to the USA, made short films, then movies.
She was considered an emerging talent in the industry, like that Los Angeles Times writes, graduated from the renowned AFI film school in 2015 and got into titles like Archenemy, Blindfire and The Mad Hatter made a name. “I think she would have become a very famous and successful cinematographer,” Archenemy director Adam Egypt Mortimer told the newspaper. “She was building a reputation for herself and showing people what she can do.” In Rust As Director of Photography she was responsible for the entire visual design of the film. Her last Instagram post, dated Wednesday this week, showed her riding a horse on the sidelines of filming in the New Mexico desert.
The magazine American cinematographer had led Hutchins as a “Rising Star”, that is, as a talent on the way to the top. Her colleague Michael Pessah told the magazine Variety: “She was a wonderful, creative, and optimistic person who was so excited to break through and make films.”
The film industry reacted with dismay to Hutchin’s death. “I have no words to express my shock and sadness”, Baldwin, the person involved in the accident, wrote on Twitter on Friday afternoon. Numerous directors, cameramen, production companies and actors posted statements, often with pictures of Hutchins. They expressed their grief and sympathy for the family.
Casting director Sidra Smith, who has worked with Hutchins frequently, wrote, “It tears my heart apart. The last time we spoke was when she was just winning this film. She was so happy about it and I was so happy for She. It’s tough for women in this business. This business is tough for camera women and this was a huge opportunity for them. “
Never again a real gun on set
“That hit me in the marrow,” wrote director Jarrett Furst, also a colleague. Hutchins was an “incredible artist and an incredible person”. Each of her projects was an affair of the heart and she had wonderfully supported everyone around her. And then Furst wrote: “I will never use a real weapon on set again, never again in my life.”
That is what is also evoked in individual statements, besides all the sadness: quiet criticism of the conditions in the film industry. Rachel Morrison, like Hutchins’ camerawoman, puts it this way: “I have no doubt that this tragedy could and should have been prevented.” There is no reason to use real weapons on set, because nowadays it is easily possible to add pistol fire to the film afterwards in post-production. Financial bottlenecks are also not an excuse. “If you don’t have the means to make a film safely, you shouldn’t shoot it. No shoot, no scene, no film is worth losing a life in the process,” says Morrison.