Rust filmmaker Joel Souza says he pushed back on several approaches to complete the beleaguered western but finally returned to the project at the direction of Halyna Hutchins’ husband Matthew.
“In the months afterward I couldn’t even have conceived of it,” Souza said of his initial thoughts about returning to the project during a Q&A for the film at Poland’s Camerimage Film Festival.
“I frankly couldn’t even have conceived of being back on set ever again or opening my laptop to write ever again. It just hurt too much.”
Hutchins was killed and Souza was injured on October 21, 2021, after the Colt .45 gun lead actor Alec Baldwin was pointing at the cinematographer fired off a live round during a rehearsal at the Bonanza Creek Ranch near Santa Fe, NM, where the movie filming.
Souza said that as “time went on” he was approached several times about reviving the project but consistently turned down offers
“They asked a few times and every time I demurred. And then I became aware that Halyna’s husband Matt wanted the movie to be done and he would come on as an executive producer,” Souza said. “It was important to him that the people who knew and loved Halyna got to see her final work. And beyond that, the people that didn’t know her would begin to understand more about her and appreciate her art.”
Souza added: “Once that became the mission, the difficulty of the decision was taken away. I had a north star to follow: To preserve every single frame that I possibly could of hers. And to honor her final work.”
Souza said he “couldn’t fathom the idea of somebody else” finishing the film.
“I couldn’t live with it. I just couldn’t live with myself if that happened. And so this is what I decided. This is why I decided to come back,” he said.
Bianca Cline, best known for shooting the A24 feature Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, replaced Hutchins as DoP on the film. Cline told the audience in Poland that attempting to push forward with the project with the emotional context of Hutchins’ death hanging over the crew was the most difficult part of her time on the production.
On the technical task she was handed, however, Cline said she worked hard to “match Halyna’s creative intent.”
“Her gaffer was very instrumental in helping me figure out what she wanted as were the camera operators,” she said. “They gave me behind-the-scenes photographs and lighting setups and told me about what kinds of lamps they were using.”
Cline added: “Really all that I and the crew that joined me were doing was copying what Halyna did.”
Souza said Cline and Hutchins’ work complemented each other like a “danced duet.”
“They were as in sync as Fred and Ginger, but they were a year and a half apart,” he said.
Later, Cline pushed back against a question from the Q&A moderator about the specific percentage of the film she shot following Hutchins’ death.
“I think it’s a terrible question, and I don’t mean to insult you,” she said.
“Everything that we were doing was trying to copy what Halyna did. It was all already established. This is Halyna’s film and I hope people watch it that way and don’t try to decipher between the two.”
Rust film tells the story of a 13-year-old boy who, left to fend for himself and his younger brother following their parents’ deaths in 1880s Wyoming, goes on the run with his long-estranged grandfather after he’s sentenced to hang for the accidental killing of a local rancher.
Wednesday’s Q&A followed the first public screening of the film. Souza and Cline introduced the film alongside Camerimage chiefs Marek Żydowicz and Kazik Suwała. The event was was hosted at a satellite venue away from Camerimage’s main festival hub.
They were joined by Hutchins’ friend, filmmaker Rachel Mason, who described Rust as “a very misunderstood film,” and announced that she has completed a documentary about Hutchins’ life and the process of finishing the project after Hutchins’ death.
“Rust was going to change her life but instead took her life,” Mason said of the film during her introduction before adding that Souza and the other filmmakers had done a “courageous act” in completing the film. You can read a full breakdown of the screening here.
Camerimage runs until November 23.