Alec Baldwin’s career has now been defined by fatally shooting a crewmember.
He has been attempting to rehabilitate his reputation in the court of public opinion.
And Baldwin will be furious at what Nicolas Cage said about his shooting.
Hollywood star Alec Baldwin is still under investigation in the shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of western Rust.
During an interview with ABC News lead correspondent George Stephanopoulos, Baldwin says he did not pull the trigger even though the gun was in his possession.
Firearms experts argue that Baldwin’s story could not have happened.
And fellow actors have called out Baldwin for being reckless.
John Schneider from The Dukes of Hazzard and Smallville said Baldwin’s excuses were nonsense, and he consulted with experts to prove that Baldwin was lying.
George Clooney said during an interview with podcaster and comedian Marc Maron that he always checks guns on set to see if they’re loaded in between each take, and he shows that the gun is unloaded to fellow actors and crewmembers in the scene.
Baldwin rebutted Clooney by saying he had his own procedure that had never failed him before, but the proof is in the pudding.
Now fellow actor Nicolas Cage spoke on the Baldwin shooting.
During a roundtable discussion with The Hollywood Reporter, the topic of Baldwin’s shooting was broached.
Cage tried not to point the finger directly at Baldwin, but it was obvious whom he was talking about.
Cage said:
“I don’t want to cast blame anywhere, but I do think, and I’m not talking about anybody, but people don’t like the word movie star. We want to be humble actors. But a movie star is a bit of a different kind of presentation because you need to know how to ride a horse…You need to know how to fight. You’re going to do fight scenes. You need to know how to ride a motorcycle. You need to know how to use a stick shift and drive sports cars, and you do need to know how to use a gun. You do. You need to take the time to know what the procedure is. Those are part of the job profiles.”
Even though each movie set has an armorer and an assistant director to handle gun safety, it’s ultimately the responsibility of the person holding the gun to know what he or she is doing.
Baldwin did not follow proper gun safety.
Cage added:
“Now, the stuntman and the movie star are two jobs that coexist. They coexist…Every stuntman needs to be a movie star and every movie star needs to be a stuntman. That’s just part of the profile… And that’s all I’m going to say about it.”
Baldwin is attempting to clear his reputation through social media posts and interviews, but it has not worked yet.
Baldwin eventually deleted his Twitter account amid backlash.
He’s also facing lawsuits from crewmembers, and New Mexico officials say that criminal charges are not off the table.