Veteran Actor Goes On Sabbatical After Movie-Set Mishap That Killed Cinematographer

Alec Baldwin may be a tough guy on camera, a testament to why the 63-year-old actor is one of the best artists on camera. But for now, he needs to rediscover himself after a movie-set mishap that left a director and a cinematographer dead.

Baldwin was somehow handed a real gun loaded with bullets instead of a prop during the filming of “The Rust” on Thursday, Oct. 21. He pulled the trigger not knowing it was loaded, injuring director Joel Souza and killing a cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins.

Real guns are sometimes used on set but loaded with blanks. It has yet to be explained how the gun that Baldwin used had real bullets inside.

The whole mishap has left Baldwin distraught, heartbroken for the family of the late cinematographer.

Still devastated at what happened last week on set, the 63-year-old has canceled all work projects for now as Baldwin tries to take some time off and re-center himself, People.com reported.

“This is how he handles difficult times,” an unnamed source said. “Whenever something bad happens, in the short term, he removes himself from [the] public eye.”

The source added that this is how Baldwin handles himself as he tries to get over and figure out how to deal with the unfortunate tragedy. He is expected to spend more time with his family and there was no timetable as to how long he can deal with the mishap.

All Baldwin can do right now is try to console the Hutchins family which is easier said than done. The fact is that he killed a wife and mother unknowingly, something that has put him in an uncomfortable state.

“There are no words to convey my shock and sadness regarding the tragic accident that took the life of Halyna Hutchins, a wife, a mother and deeply admired colleague of ours,” Baldwin wrote on Twitter. “I’m fully cooperating with the police investigation to address how this tragedy occurred.”