Husband Of 'Rust' Cinematographer Killed On Set Speaks Out

when do you miss her the most i saw a picture of her smiling the other day and i just thought you know she'll never smile again and and that's really hard i didn't know her but i know you loved her i mean that's a parent sitting across from you in this moment when you first met helena was it wow was it like fireworks what was it like pretty much was it you knew right away um it was pretty magical meeting her it was love at first sight matt hutchins traveling 2 000 miles to ukraine helena's native country to propose getting engaged only three months after they met well i like to trust my intuition on matters of the heart and i was like well i can just get on a train and go 2 000 miles and get there that's what love does wow it was along the way where i decided to propose and i got down on my knees said let's get married and she was way too fast for her she said i don't know about this so i had to i had to convince her and we met up and i gave her a ring that ring he gave helena he now wears matt and helena were happily married for 16 years raising a loving son there was a picture that struck me so deeply and it was she and andros nose to nose and when i saw that i thought that's pure she just felt that connection and just loved him so much and helena calling every night from the rust movie set to wish him good night what were their conversations like well they would get on video and you know she would just do everything that she could as a mom to reassure him you know just give him kisses and how did that make him feel when he saw her on video like that i think it helped him get to sleep every night knowing that she was thinking about him i feel like in life we expect certain things to happen we expect the sun to rise we expect the sun to set and we expect our loved one to come home at night well we certainly expected her to come home and and to be there with us in our new home matt hutchins describes the horrifying moment he learned his beloved wife was shot and how he shared the heartbreaking news with their nine-year-old son andros how did you learn that something was wrong a member of the production team told me that helena had been shot and my heart sank right away completely inexplicable to me that it could have happened at that moment and the first thing i thought i sat down and i said i have to get my son because i had to be with him i rushed home and on the way decided that we had to go to santa fe and when i got through the to the doctor and spoke with him and he detailed exactly what had happened and that she didn't survive i mean i was i was heartbroken and i knew that i had to tell my son right away when i saw him it just had to be very direct and blunt because going to pick him up and go to the airport to go to santa fe i didn't want him to think that we were going to be seeing her and having fun together and getting his hopes up i told him sitting together you know that his mother had been shot and died and of course he didn't believe it right away he didn't want to believe it so you know what did he say well you know i think that that kind of news you just have to say multiple times so that it can be believed and and so he believed it and and we cried together then every holiday christmas new year's our anniversary my birthday valentine's day i mean every holiday is difficult without her and and for for me and andros alec baldwin um called you afterwards and there was an embrace and a meal what tell me what that was like well i feel like to understand that moment you have to remember the the shock we were in and i spoke with mr baldwin and was just looking for a way through the storm was did he seem distraught during that time there were a lot of emotions for sure on both sides hutchins who's filed a civil suit against baldwin and other producers and crew members on the film now expressing outrage with baldwin's recent interview where he says the actor shifted blame over the death of his wife helena i feel that that someone is responsible for what happened and i can't say who that is but i know it's not me but watching him i just felt so angry just so angry to see him talk about her death so publicly in such a detailed way and then to not accept any responsibility after having just described killing him he said essentially he felt grief but no guilt almost sounds like he was the victim and hearing him blame helena in the interview and and shift responsibility to others and and seeing him cry about it i just feel like are we really supposed to feel bad about you mr baldwin so do you think that the majority of the blame lays on alec baldwin the idea that the person holding the gun causing it to discharge is not responsible is absurd to me every individual who touches a firearm has a responsibility for gun safety but gun safety was not the only problem on that set there were a number of industry standards that were not practiced and there's multiple responsible parties the suit which alleges at least 15 safety practices were disregarded on set claims there was a wider culture of cost cutting that ultimately led to helina's death in a statement baldwin's attorney says any claim that alec was reckless is entirely false in your mind's eye what does justice look like yeah we're pursuing justice every way we can you know with the lawsuit seeking to hold accountable the people who are responsible for helena's death which was totally preventable in the end you know justice won't bring helena back but maybe the memory of her can help keep people safe and prevent something like this from ever happening again the american film institute afi where helena received a graduate degree in cinematography established a scholarship in her honor you feel her spirit in here at afi oh she spent many hours here yeah and uh yeah afi has been wonderful i also want her legacy as an artist to live afi has created the the scholarship in her name i think that's part of her legacy you know she would have been mentoring fellow female cinematographers as a guiding light for others there's a beautiful inscription on her i guess you call it a tombstone what what is written there and why did you choose that so her light shapes our lives keep chasing your vision you know thinking about how her light just permeates our lives and to be inspired and ambitious and that really embodied her spirit and matt has had um so much tragedy he just lost his parent um of covet a couple of years ago and i was just thinking about the breaking news today in ukraine her entire family is from ukraine and in the capital of kiev so he's carrying a lot he also obviously had a lot of anger for alec baldwin and also he just wanted people to know his wife he felt like nobody knew her so i think that was kind of his moment yeah and how is his little boy doing um he he wasn't speaking for a couple of days after it happened and he finally got him he said he said he recently got him to laugh and he said that was something in fact he just came to the interview after dropping andros off at school and he came there so he's trying to keep it as normal as possible for that little boy he seems so composed i mean it's incredible after what they've gone through is he confident they'll get justice because alec baldwin is so rich is so powerful um he just hopes it well he's an attorney himself so you could tell he's kind of very measured in how he speaks but he says he's convinced the justice will be done i asked him point blank if he thought there should be criminal charges filed and he said that'll be something that's up to the district attorney to decide but he feels like justice should be pursued down a lot of different avenues he may be measured but there is no mistaking the message he had yeah it was clear hoda that was an incredible interview thank you thank you we're gonna hear more from matt uh coming up in the third and fourth hours and of course you can see our in-depth interview tonight 10 30 eastern on our streaming channel today all day and we also want to mention you can learn more about that scholarship honoring helena hutchins at the american film institute go to our website today.com she'll be helping a lot of people yeah and a real inspiration a female cinematographer she was really paving the way hey thanks for watching our youtube channel find your favorite recipes celebrity interviews uplifting stories shop our favorite deals and so much more with the today app download it now you

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Id: 7Eqw0QmOXDQ

Length: 10min 5sec (605 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 24 2022