‘Last Take’ Director Says Her ‘Rust’ Doc About Friend Halyna Hutchins “Became More Commercial” Along The Way: “Sometime Executives Tell You You Have To”

Rachel Mason first met Halyna Hutchins in 2015, at a daycare attended by both of their sons. They were both moms and both filmmakers, and started hanging out daily.

“We would discuss things that were creative, and related to filmmaking,” Mason—who directed the new Hulu documentary Last Take: Rust and the Story of Halyna—told Decider in a recent Zoom interview. “Eventually, we worked on some projects together.”

Mason never imagined that when her friend took a job as a cinematographer on a small, independent western starring Alec Baldwin, that Hutchins would become the victim of one of the most shocking film set deaths in modern history. But on October 21, 2021, on the film set of the 2024 film Rust, a prop gun held by Baldwin fired a live bullet that hit Hutchins, killing her. She was 42.

The day after Hutchins died, her husband, Matt Hutchins, reached out to Mason to ask her to make a documentary about the cinematographer’s life. Mason told Decider that’s exactly what she set out to do—at first.

“Initially, it was a more independent, keeping-your-head down, doing-what-you-want kind of film,” Mason said. “Then it became more commercial.”

The final product, which began streaming on Hulu today, plays out as part loving tribute, and part true-crime investigation. Mason includes ample footage from the set of Rust, including body camera footage from authorities who arrived on the scene after the shooting, and interrogation footage of Baldwin and armorer Hannah Gutierrez in police custody. Mason spoke to Decider about the decision to include this footage, why she wanted to make the film, and what she hopes it can do for Hutchins’s legacy.

DECIDER: How did you first meet Halyna and become friends?

RACHEL MASON: I met Halyna in 2015, because our kids were going to the same daycare. They were about three years old. We each have sons the same age. As random as that sounds, that’s how we met—through our kids. We hit it off and just basically would hang out every morning after dropping our kids off. We would discuss things that were creative, and related to filmmaking, and eventually we worked on some projects together. 

How soon did you know this documentary was something you wanted to take on?

When Matt [Hutchins, Halyna’s husband] asked me, it was the day after she died. It was immediately after. I did not fully conceive of it as a reality, until some time passed and I recognized how huge of a story this was in the media, and that Matt had likely asked me because Halyna’s story had blown up and had become something in the news. We had to chase down, in some ways, the existing narrative in order to make it clear that the world lost a really important person, not just a victim of an on-set tragedy, with a celebrity involved.

Once I grasped how important it was restore Halyna’s legacy—or craft it, because it hadn’t been set up for people to understand—it felt like a very important, solemn obligation. I asked my friend Julee Metz if she could join me in this. She’s a seasoned documentary producer, who also happened to be friends with Halyna—and also her son is friends with my son, and Halyna’s son. It was a bit of a family affair that crafted the film. We know everyone in the family—her mother, her father, and her sister. They are very important to us. It really meant the world to be able to do something that could help things, hopefully. 

In your director’s statement, you say the film was originally more about Halyna’s life, childhood, and career. How far did you get into making that version of the film, and why did the focus shift to the Rust production and her death?

I wish I could make 12 different films about Halyna’s life. There would be so much that I would want to put in. What happened was really a result of a bunch of different things, that led to this film becoming more commercial. Initially, it was a more independent, keeping-your-head down, doing-what-you-want kind of film. Then it became more commercial. Not just commercial—there were absolute, pressing questions the public had. It was a news story. The public is asking these things. If we don’t try to answer them, there will be a question hanging over the film.

There’s a world of things that start to happen when you build the film. When the story kept expanding—it kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger, it was constantly in the news—it was almost like we had to contend with this large story surrounding the film. Those thing kept having to be answered. So it shifted from the story of Halyna, to the story of Rust, because that is what people needed to have answers for. We really had to reconcile: How do we make both things happen, and not lose Halyna in it?

How did you approach the cast and crew of Rust, particularly director Joel Souza, about participating in this documentary? How did you get them on board?

Again, the whole purpose of the film being to preserve Halyna’s legacy, was my intention at the outset. I did nothing except state that to everyone. Just simply stating that, and having them know about my connection and Julee’s connection—it was almost like instantly, people wanted to help. There was so little people feel like they could do, in this situation. So, for them to feel like speaking with me could help somehow—and I felt similarly. I had nothing I could possibly do to help anything, except, hopefully, this film. I think there was a synergy of our mutual, shared desire that connected us. 

Has Matt Hutchins seen the final cut of the movie, and what did you hear from him as a response to the film?

Matt was appreciative. He’s watched the film, and it’s painful. It’s hard. The whole entire thing is difficult. I often put myself in his shoes, and can’t imagine asking anyone to make a film, or watching this film. Knowing that Matt, basically, signed off and said we had done exactly what we needed to get done, meant a lot. 

One of the most striking moments of the film, to me, is that you have this footage of the actual shooting on the set, although you cut away before you see anything. Did you always know that you were going to include that in the film, and why was it important for you to show?

Like with everything in the film, I didn’t know what was going to be included until edit. That, I didn’t necessarily want to include. It started to happen in edit. Things do come out of edit, and you suddenly realize, ‘Oh, we need that.’ When I think about what I want—all I wanted was to focus on the good stuff, like Halyna’s art. But what you end up having to do—[those] are two different things. Sometimes the film tells you you have to do this. Sometimes executives tell you have to—you know, a lot of competing interests.

I will say one of the worst things that can happen to any filmmaker is that they’re working on something that is public. I’ve worked on a film called Circus of Books before this. Nobody knew or cared about it. I didn’t realize what a great privilege it is to work in obscurity. This was not that. You have a lot of opinions and a lot of voices. A lot of decisions made in the film came out of that. So I would say, that particular [decision], is like many different elements in the film. To quote Halyna, ‘It’s a group product.’ I would not claim that a lot of the decisions were mine alone, because it’s a group product. The things that I strongly cared about—that I insisted upon, that I wanted that in a certain way, that would feel like my directors touch—some of those things are connected to her work. Specifically, the moments we see her work, and we feel that connection she had. Her one and only Zoom-recorded phone call was very important for me to have in the film. 

Just to clarify, are you saying you would not have included that, if it was your choice alone?

I wouldn’t put it quite like that, because it is what comes out of the edit. You’re editing, and you’re looking at it, and you’re like ‘Oh, wow. I guess we need that.’ It’s more like that. And then other people can weigh in, and you debate it. I wouldn’t say I specifically, with that one shot, was like, ‘Wow, I don’t want to include it.’ I had lots of different things to say about, for instance, the sound effect on the gunshot. I really wanted to make sure that was subtle. If we had to have it, we would have to do it like this. It was more like that. Things like, ‘Well if we have to have this, in order to get this crafted right, then we have to have it.’

How exactly did you obtain the footage of Alec Baldwin and Hannah Gutierrez when they were in police interrogation and why was it so important for you to include?

That’s the footage that was made public by the sheriff’s office, so a Freedom of Information Act request, a FOIA request, is what led to that. This is where my producing partner Julee Metz—as soon as everything became public, and the sheriff’s office started to release stuff—Julee knew exactly what to do to obtain everything. The decision to bring that into the film was similar to my answer to the other question. Things come out of the process of making it, editing it, and discussing it with the team—having people weigh in and voicing their opinions and concerns about all these different things.

Was Alec Baldwin aware of the documentary while you were making it? Did you reach out to him, or his people, to be a part of it?

We did reach out to him, and we became aware that he’s doing his own projects. So it was impossible for him to work with us.

Have you seen his new reality series The Baldwins which covers the lead-up to his trial, but in a very different way? What’s your take on it?

I know this sounds odd, but I really haven’t spent any time with it. I’ve just been laser-focused on what I’ve been working on. I don’t really have anything to say about it. 

You were at Hannah Gutierrez’s trial. How do you feel about her sentencing? Does that feel like justice for your friend? 

Interestingly, I felt exactly as our subject, and our dear friend who helped film some of this, Olesia Saveleva, felt. She said, ‘It doesn’t feel good seeing someone to jail.’ I heard the sounds of Hannah’s mother screaming and wailing. I looked over, and I saw her father crying. Nothing about that felt good. It just felt like more trauma. Knowing that Hannah is one of the responsible parties… I think this whole experience has made me change my feeling about justice, because I could imagine wanting that. But once you’re there, once you’re in it, it doesn’t feel right. I will say, Halyna was not a vindictive person. I can’t imagine a world where she would seeking out more suffering. I know our justice system works in a certain way, but all you want is for your friend to come back. That’s all you want.

The movie ends with a reveal of who replaced Hannah Gutierrez as an the armorer when Rust went back into production, and it’s an older, burly man named Andy. He seems to make everyone feel safe, and is in direct contrast to Hannah, a young woman with dyed hair.  Is that an aspect of the story you thought about, as the film came together?

Interesting. Now that you’re raising it, knowing that it was an older man replacing a younger woman, I feel that baked-in, misogynistic culture that can’t imagine a woman in this role. But the real pain and horror, of some of this, is that both Halyna and Hannah were young, aspirational women on a track. Hannah would’ve been on an armoring track—there’s an interview where she said that’s what she hoped do and accomplish in her life. Halyna, obviously, was on a cinematography track. Both are rare for woman to be in those professions. It’s so upsetting to know that the collision course to put these two young women together would lead to such an awful outcome.

But, I will say, having since experienced the world outside of Rust, I’ve met other female armorers, and its good to celebrate women in the lesser-occupied positions. Same with women cinematographers. There’s a lot of pain, anger, and outrage. Should they have found a female armorer to replace Hannah? Now that you say that, it never dawned on me, that could’ve been a good thing. [Rust] was completed by [cinematographer] Bianca Cline. Bianca is absolutely talented and brilliant. But yes, there’s an absolute sadness and pain on the side of things that is the added stress for women in this industry. 

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