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Halyna Anatoliivna Hutchins (; April 9, 1979 – October 21, 2021) was a Ukrainian cinematographer. She worked on more than 30 feature-length films, short films, and TV miniseries, including the films Archenemy, Darlin', and Blindfire.
On October 21, 2021, during production on the set of the film Rust, she was shot and killed by actor and producer Alec Baldwin when he mistakenly fired a bullet from a firearm he was using as a movie prop, one he assumed was loaded with dummy rounds. The gun was under the care of Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the set armorer who did not properly check the gun.
The resulting criminal cases filed after Hutchins's death dealt primarily with assigning negligence to the people on set, and investigating how a live round ended up inside of the gun.
In 2018, she was one of the first eight female cinematographers participating in the Fox DP Lab program, which was established to provide greater opportunities for women cinematographers. In 2019, she was named one of the "10 up-and-coming directors of photography who are making their mark" by American Cinematographer.
She was director of photography on Adam Egypt Mortimer's 2020 film Archenemy. Mortimer had said of her, that her "tastes and sensibility of what is cinematic were a huge asset for executing our style" and that "her AFI training and her skill with the math of LUT settings gave us the best texture I've found yet in shooting digital".
She is also credited for work on the films Darlin'
A candlelight vigil at the Albuquerque Civic Plaza organized by local IATSE chapters was held on October 23. It drew hundreds of people. She is buried at Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, California.
Hutchins's family filed a lawsuit against Baldwin and other crew members of the film Rust alleging that her wrongful death on the set was caused by irresponsible behavior and cost-cutting. The lawsuit was settled for undisclosed sums, with her widower being given a job as executive producer of the film.
Rust first assistant director David Halls pleaded guilty to negligent use of a deadly weapon, and received a suspended sentence and six months of probation. Halls pleaded no contest to an additional misdemeanor charge of negligent use of a deadly weapon, for which he received a sentence of six months of unsupervised probation, a $500 fine and 24 hours of community service. The special prosecutor's office in New Mexico announced the dismissal of involuntary manslaughter charges against Baldwin. Rust movie armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed waived her right for a preliminary hearing to determine whether or not the criminal charges against her would stand, thus allowing the trial against her to take place. A grand jury indicted Baldwin for involuntary manslaughter, and charges against him were refiled.
A jury found Gutierrez-Reed guilty of involuntary manslaughter, but not guilty of the additional charge of tampering with evidence. She was sentenced to 18 months in prison and was released after completing her sentence. The case against Alec Baldwin was dismissed with prejudice after the prosecution withheld evidence from the defense. Shortly after the criminal case against Baldwin was dismissed, lawyers for Hutchins' widower and parents vowed to seek civil litigation against the actor.
Hutchins's death inspired calls for gun safety reform on film sets. Alexi Hawley, a producer of the American police procedural The Rookie, confirmed that all live guns on the show were to be replaced with Airsoft guns and CG flashes. Eric Kripke, showrunner of the American superhero TV series The Boys, similarly vowed to ban blanks and guns on his show.
Less than two hours after Hutchins's death, filmmaker Bandar Albuliwi, a former AFI Conservatory Directing classmate (class of 2010), proposed a ban on real guns on film and television sets. He created a petition for "Halyna's Law" on Change.org, which was signed by actors Olivia Wilde, Dwayne Johnson, Ariana DeBose, Julianne Moore, Anna Paquin, Elijah Wood, Lena Dunham and Ava DuVernay. Albuliwi has been working with state senators, including California State Senator Dave Cortese, to propose California legislation that would make it a felony to use real ammunition on film and television sets. Over 200 cinematographers called in an open letter to ban functional firearms on film sets.
The American Society of Cinematographers posthumously honored Hutchins's work as a cinematographer by awarding her honorary membership.
An authorized documentary directed by her close friend and collaborator Rachel Mason, and executive produced by Matthew Hutchins, produced by Story Syndicate, was released in March 2025, on Hulu.
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