Attorneys for Alec Baldwin’s “Rust” said the incentive would have been used to pay a settlement to cinematographer Halyna Hutchins’ family.
Producers of the may have to forgo a robust economic incentive as they try to sell the film to distributors and fulfill financial obligations to the immediate family of a cinematographer who was during rehearsal in 2021.
New Mexico tax authorities denied an application this spring by Rust Movie Productions for incentives worth as much as $1.6 million, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. A late July deadline for producers to appeal the decision is approaching.
Meanwhile, Baldwin is scheduled to go on trial starting next week on an involuntary manslaughter charge in . The lead actor and co-producer of “Rust” was when it went off, killing her and wounding director Joel Souza.
Melina Spadone, an attorney representing the production company, said the film production tax incentive was going to be used to between producers and Hutchins’ widower and son.
“The denial of the tax credit has disrupted those financial arrangements”, said Spadone, a New York- and Los Angeles-based senior counsel at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman. She helped broker the 2022 settlement that of “Rust” in Montana with some of the original cast and crew, including Baldwin and Souza. last year.
Terms of the settlement are confidential, but producers say finishing the film was meant to honor Hutchins’ artistic vision and generate money for her young son. When the settlement was announced, Baldwin called it a “resolution of this tragic and painful situation” on social media.
“Throughout this difficult process, everyone has maintained the specific desire to do what is best for Halyna’s son”, Baldwin said in the post.
Court documents indicate that settlement payments are up to a year late, as attorneys for Hutchins’ widower determine “next steps” that include whether to or initiate new claims. Legal representatives for Matthew Hutchins did not respond to telephone and email messages seeking comment.
