News

A year and a half after the fatal shooting of its cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, the Alec Baldwin Western “Rust” is back on the market at the Cannes Film Festival, shopping for international buyers.

Last month, “Rust” resumed shooting in Montana to finish the independently financed production that shut down following Hutchins’ death in October 2021. Matthew Hutchins, her widower, is serving as an executive producer on the film as part of a settlement over a wrongful death lawsuit.

The Cannes film market, which is in centreed in the Palais des Festivals but has no relation to the official festival lineup, is where “Rust” was first formed as a production in 2000. Goodfellas, a sales company formerly known as Wild Bunch International, is handling sales.

Read More: Alec Baldwin Thanks Fans For Support As ‘Rust’ Continues Filming: ‘I’m Grateful’

“Rust” still lacks North American distribution.

New Mexico prosecutors dropped criminal charges against Baldwin in April.

There are head-scratching creative decisions, and then there's this. According to The Hollywood Reporter, actor Alec Baldwin is set to star in a movie called "Kent State," about the 1970 protest shootings that took the lives of four college students at the hands of the National Guard. While the Kent State shootings are already a touchy topic for any film to focus on, the casting news is especially surprising given that Baldwin just wrapped filming on "Rust," the film that had to be shut down for investigations after an on-set firearms accident injured director Joel Souza and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. Baldwin was holding the gun when it discharged, and though he has had all criminal charges against him dropped, he is still facing multiple civil cases made against him over the incident. Taking on a movie expressly about gun violence so soon after that fatal experience feels like ... well, it's certainly a choice.

Days after Alec Baldwin announced that he's finished with his work on Rust, the actor's next project has been revealed. Per Et, Baldwin is set to star in the upcoming movie Kent State, a film about the tragedy that occurred on the university's campus on May 4, 1970. That day, the Ohio National Guard opened fire on unarmed students who'd been protesting the Vietnam War, killing four and wounding several others. The massacre sparked widespread outrage and is still often talked about to this day, having recently surpassed the incident's 53rd anniversary.

Today is a sad anniversary. Fifty-three years ago, 4 students were killed and another 9 injured by the Ohio National Guard at Kent State University. The deaths themselves were a tragedy, but the ongoing cover-up is a travesty.

Alec Baldwin has set his next project. The actor will star in the upcoming film “Kent State” about the tragic 1970 war protest shootings.

It’s an interesting choice, as the news comes after Baldwin wrapped production on “Rust” earlier this week. Et has learned that “Kent State” is a film about the abuse of power and misuse of guns, and that there will be no actual guns used on set.

As Et previously reported, Baldwin was involved in an on-set tragedy while filming “Rust” in October 2021 outside Santa Fe, New Mexico, when a gun he was holding discharged, killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza.

In January, Baldwin was charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter. However, his lawyers announced last month that the charges against him had been dropped.

Baldwin previously pleaded not guilty to the charges and has repeatedly insisted he did not pull the trigger on the prop gun.

Alec Baldwin has lined up another project, joining the cast of the upcoming feature film Kent State.

The film is set to bring to life the violent and tragic events of May 4, 1970, when four students were shot and killed by the National Guard during a campus protest against the Vietnam War. Baldwin will play Kent State president Robert I. White.

The film is being sold in Cannes by Strive Global Media.

Currently in pre-production, Kent State marks the feature directorial debut of Karen Slade, who also wrote the screenplay. Produced by Kristen Moser of Autumn Moor Productions, the executive producers on the movie include Tom Ortenberg, Kevin Beer, Ivan Williams, and Michael Walsh.

The deal was brokered by Miriam Elchanan, president of sales & acquisitions at Strive Global Media, and Lynn Mooney, president of Onna Media.

Baldwin has just completed the filming on his tragedy-stricken feature Rust almost 18 months after the...

Exclusive: Briarcliff Entertainment has acquired North American distribution rights to the gripping historical drama Kent State from writer, director Karen Slade. The film will star Dermot Mulroney, Clancy Brown, Aksel Hennie, Christopher Backus, Christopher Ammanuel, Andrew Ortenberg and Jacqueline Emerson.

Grandave International is handling foreign sales on the film. The pic will begin filming this November in Columbus, Ga with a US theatrical release anticipated for 2023.

Inspired by true events, the movie tells the story of how a family’s buried past coincides with the brutal truth of one of the most significant events in American history, when the Ohio National Guard fired into a crowd of student protestors, killing four, and injuring 7 on May 4th, 1970, at Kent State University. Told through the perspective of Will McCormack in two time periods in his life, the film asks the question of not just what happened then, but why these kinds of events continue to happen.

The radio industry is staggeringly uniform. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently reported that only 7% of FM stations are owned by women and less than 3% of FM licenses belong to minority broadcasters. Estimates suggest that the number of stations black-owned radio stations has been cut in half since 1996.

These numbers are bad enough, but on Monday, civil rights groups, media and consumer advocates and many in the music industry mobilized to fight a rule change they say will make the situation even worse.

The National Association of Broadcasters (Nab), a...