The most eagerly awaited A-lister expected at the Turin Film Festival in Italy, which opened Friday, is not honoree Sharon Stone, nor is it Angelina Jolie, who will be on hand to screen her new movie as a director, Without Blood.
It is instead Alec Baldwin, whose involuntary manslaughter case following the tragic accident on the set of his indie Western Rust was dismissed in August. On Oct. 21, 2021, Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed on the set of the film when Baldwin fired a live round from a prop revolver that was supposed to be filled with dummy bullets. The shot also hit the film’s director, Joel Souza, in the shoulder, narrowly missing his spine.
Baldwin will fly into the Northern Italian town of Turin on Monday, where he will be given the festival’s prestigious Stella a Mole, a career achievement honor. He will meet the international media at a press conference ahead of a screening of his 1990 thriller The Hunt for Red October. Stone and Mathew Broderick will also be on hand to receive a TFF career prize. Past recipients have included Kevin Spacey and Angelina Jolie.
Rust — without Baldwin in attendance — received an enthusiastic reception at its premiere at the Camerimage Film Festival in Toruń, Poland, earlier this week. Director Souza and the new cinematographer Bianca Cline were in attendance. Before the screening, a minute of silence was observed in honor of Hutchins.
The screening was introduced by Rachel Mason, Hutchins’ close friend, who has been working on a documentary about the director of photography. She underlined how “there was so much controversy and difficulty surrounding this film” after the accident. And she said that she considered Souza and Cline “real heroes” for completing the film after the tragedy.
Rust tells the story of a 13-year-old boy who accidentally kills a rancher in 1880s Wyoming and goes on the run with his grandfather, played by Baldwin.
The 42nd edition of the Turin Film Festival runs Nov. 22-30.
