A movie director who survived being shot by Alec Baldwin during a movie rehearsal has told a court he was approaching the film's cinematographer when he heard a loud bang and felt the bullet's impact.
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"It felt like someone had taken a baseball bat to my shoulder," said Joel Souza, who was wounded by the same bullet that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the New Mexico set for the western movie Rust on October 21, 2021.
Souza was called to testify as prosecutors pursue charges of involuntary manslaughter and tampering with evidence against movie weapons supervisor Hannah Gutierrez, who has pleaded not guilty.
Baldwin, the lead actor and co-producer on Rust faces a separate trial for involuntary manslaughter in July.
Souza said his work day began before dawn with the realisation that six camera crew members had walked off set.
Hutchins put out urgent calls for replacements and filming was back under way by late morning.
Work after lunch started with positioning a camera for an extreme close-up of Baldwin drawing a gun from a holster inside a makeshift church.
Souza said he moved in behind Hutchins for a closer look at the camera angle but never saw the gun that shot him.
Baldwin and his handling of firearms on set are coming under special scrutiny in questioning by prosecution and defence lawyers.
On Thursday, prosecutors played video of Baldwin pressuring the movie armourer to hurry up as she reloads guns between scenes.
Gutierrez can be seen quickly loading a revolver.
Bryan Carpenter, a Mississippi-based specialist in firearms safety on film sets, said Baldwin's commands infringed on basic industry safety protocols and responsibilities of the armorer.
"Rushing with firearms and telling someone to rush with firearms is not normal or accepted," Carpenter said.
On Friday, defence lawyer Jason Bowles pressed Souza to remember whether the script explicitly called for Baldwin to point the gun towards the camera, where he and Hutchins were standing.
"It's not a matter of the script, really. For that specific shot, it was literally supposed to be the gun being pulled out sideways," Souza said.
Prosecutors say Gutierrez is to blame for unwittingly bringing live ammunition on set and that she flouted basic safety protocols for weapons, partly by leaving the church rehearsal while a gun still was in use.
Defence lawyers say it was not Gutierrez's decision to leave.
Souza said he only recalled seeing a "distraught" Gutierrez inside the church after he was shot.
"I remember her saying, 'I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Joel'. And I remember somebody just screaming at her, and they just ushered her out," Souza said.
Australian Associated Press
