Alec Baldwin has admitted his acting career may be over after the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the film Rust.
v Alec Baldwin, at a film premiere earlier this year. Photo: AFP/Getty
"It could be," the 63-year-old actor said in an interview with George Stephanopoulos of ABC News, adding that he did not care.
Baldwin also said he "didn't pull the trigger" of the gun during the incident on 21 October in New Mexico.
"Someone put a live bullet in a gun" he said. "I know it's not me."
Baldwin is best-known for his performance in the US sitcom 30 Rock, as well as his impersonation of Donald Trump on sketch show Saturday Night Live.
"I don't know what happened on that set. I don't know how that bullet arrived in that gun. I don't know," he said.
"But I'm all for doing anything that will take us to a place where this is less likely to happen again."
The actor said that during the rehearsal on 21 October Hutchins was directing his every move.
"She's guiding me through how she wants me to hold the gun for this angle.
"I'm holding the gun where she told me to hold it, which ended up being aimed right below her armpit."
To get the shot, the actor said he needed to cock the gun - but not fire it.
"The trigger wasn't pulled. I didn't pull the trigger.
"I cock the gun. I go, 'Can you see that? Can you see that? Can you see that?'
"And then I let go of the hammer of the gun, and the gun goes off," he said.
Baldwin told ABC News that, while he didn't feel guilty, the incident had left him emotionally scarred.
"I have dreams about this constantly now," he said. "I go through my day, and I make it through the day. Then I collapse at the end of the day. Emotionally, I collapse."
Halyna Hutchins was a "wonderful mother, first and foremost", a former colleague told the BBC. Photo: AFP / 2021 Anadolu Agency
Baldwin said he met with Hutchins' widower, Matthew, and her 9-year-old son after the shooting.
"I didn't know what to say," he recalled.. "[Matthew] hugged [me] and he goes 'I suppose you and I are going to go through this together'... and I thought, 'Well, not as much as you are.'"
The interview marks the first time Baldwin has spoken about the incident on camera, except for a brief interview he gave to TMZ in October, in a bid to stop the paparazzi from following him and his family.
Hutchins, 42, was flown to hospital by helicopter after the shooting - but later died of her injuries. Director Joel Souza, 48, was also injured.
According to court records, Baldwin was handed the weapon by the film's assistant director, Dave Halls, who did not know it contained live ammunition and indicated it was unloaded by shouting "cold gun".
Halls had been given the gun by Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the 24-year-old armourer on the film.
Lawyers for Gutierrez-Reed have said she did not know where "the live rounds came from". That question is now at the centre of a police investigation in the US.
Investigators have already obtained a warrant to search the premises of an arms supplier in the US.
An affidavit with the warrant says police have been told ammunition for the film came from several sources, including PDQ Arm & Prop.
The affidavit says the ammunition supplier's owner, Seth Kenney, has told the investigators the live round might have been from some "reloaded ammunition".
He says the ammunition he supplied for the film consisted of dummy rounds and blanks, according to the affidavit.
-BBC
