Alec Baldwin is giving his first television interview following the fatal shooting on the set of Rust, and ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos says he's never experienced anything like it in his career.
Baldwin sat down with Stephanopoulos for an interview that ABC is set to air in primetime on Thursday night, and the ABC anchor teased the conversation on Good Morning America, reflecting, "I've done thousands of interviews in the last 20 years at ABC. This was the most intense I've ever experienced."
The interview comes weeks after cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed, and director Joel Souza was injured, in a shooting on the set of Rust when Baldwin discharged a prop gun. An investigation into the shooting remains ongoing, with officials still examining how live rounds ended up on the set.
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Baldwin expressed "shock and sadness" on social media in the wake of the "tragic accident," and he spoke with paparazzi in October while asking them to stop following him and his family. The sit-down with Stephanopoulos, though, will be Baldwin's first official on-camera interview since the shooting. On Good Morning America, Stephanopoulos said the conversation was "so raw" and that Baldwin was "very forthcoming," answering every question and going into detail about "what happened on the set that day." The ABC anchor also teased that he was "surprised in many places" during the interview, which lasted nearly an hour-and-a-half.
Baldwin previously told paparazzi in October he had been ordered not to comment on the active investigation. But he described the shooting as a "one-in-a-trillion" incident, and he added that he would be "extremely interested" in limiting the use of guns on film sets going forward. Baldwin is facing lawsuits from Rust crew members, with the film's script supervisor alleging he "chose to play Russian Roulette with a loaded gun without checking it and without having the armorer do so."
