Alec Baldwin plays at park with Hilaria, kids, before — ‘Yikes!’ — ‘Rust’ production resumes

Before Alec Baldwin resumes production on “Rust” — one of the more macabre-sounding endeavors in recent Hollywood history — the beleaguered actor enjoyed a trip Tuesday to his neighborhood park with his influencer wife Hilaria, four of their seven young children and a woman who looks like one of their rumored nannies.

Photos captured by paparazzi show the casually dressed Alec and Hilaria Baldwin pushing a stroller carrying at least one small child into Washington Square Park, near their penthouse in Greenwich Village. They were accompanied by a woman who appeared to be a servant, pushing a second stroller holding another two children. As the Daily Mail said, it appeared that Baldwin, 65, and Hilaria, 39, were trying to “enjoy some normality” before he flew off to Montana to resume production on “Rust.”

Of course, there’s nothing normal about Alec and Hilaria Baldwin, a couple who have turned their family life into a social media spectacle as they have weathered tragedy, scandal, criminal prosecution and litigation on multiple fronts.

The New Mexico production of the low-budget Western “Rust” was abruptly halted in October 2021 when a gun Baldwin was handling during a rehearsal fired a live round, killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. Director Joel Souza also was wounded.

Baldwin and “Rust” armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed were charged with involuntary manslaughter in Hutchins’ death in January. Prosecutors allege Baldwin unsafely pointed the gun in Hutchins’ direction and pulled the trigger, while Gutierrez-Reed failed to make sure the weapon contained no live rounds.

Baldwin has pleaded not guilty and has vowed to fight the charges, calling them a “terrible miscarriage of justice” and saying Hutchins’ death was a tragic accident. Gutierrez-Reed has pleaded not guilty and maintains her innocence.

Hutchins’ husband, Matthew Hutchins, filed one of several wrongful death lawsuits against Baldwin as well as other producers of “Rust,” Gutierrez-Reed and other crew members who were supposed to ensure safety on the set.

Baldwin and Matthew Hutchins announced in October they had reached a undisclosed settlement, though they revealed that the agreement involved completing “Rust” as “a tribute” to Hutchins’ legacy.

Both Baldwin and Souza said they were on board to finish the movie. It was announced in February that the production had hired a new cinematographer, Bianca Cline, and that filming would be moved from New Mexico to the Yellowstone Ranch in Montana, Variety reported. 

CNN reported Tuesday that Baldwin, Souza and the new cinematographer would be back at work on “Rust” on Thursday.

It remains to be seen whether audiences will rush to theaters or to a streaming service to see a movie so associated with tragedy and controversy. New Mexico regulators concluded that the film set was plagued by numerous safety violations that likely contributed to Hutchins’ death.

“I cannot believe they are going to finish that movie,” one person said in a tweet, replying to CNN’s report on production resuming this week. Other responses included: “Yikes,” “Cringe,” “Gutsy and insensitive,” “Who is actually gonna watch this movie?!” and “Absolutely nobody wants this!” Some suggested that its only viewers will be people watching out of morbid curiosity.

Meanwhile, as Baldwin prepared to return to work on “Rust,” he’s been trying to beat back another lawsuit filed by Hutchins’ Ukrainian parents and sister, NBC News reported. Last week, Baldwin filed a motion asking that their suit be thrown out, claiming that they had been “distanced” from Hutchins “physically, financially and emotionally for years before her death.” Baldwin said their suit was a “misguided” effort to “obtain compensation” from her death.

Amid all this turmoil, Hilaria Baldwin has continued to post happy family photos of her seven children with Baldwin. She and Baldwin share sons Rafael, 7, Leonardo, 6, Romeo, 4, and Eduardo, 2, and three daughters: Carmen, 9, Maria, 2, and their newest child Ilaria, 6 months.

She was accused of exploiting images of her young children to grow her lifestyle influencer brand and to garner sympathy for her husband as he was being investigated for Hutchins’ death. Legal and P.R. experts kept saying that Hilaria Baldwin needed to get off social media, while her husband needed to stop giving interviews and saying, among other things, that he didn’t pull the trigger.

For the most part, the couple started to heed that advice after the charges were filed in late January. That was after Hilaria Baldwin gave an interview to Extra in December, during which she wore all black and said tearfully: “We can’t be OK. No one is OK. It was and is a tragedy that nobody could ever have imagined.”

More recently, Hilaria Baldwin posted a photo of her and Baldwin, gathering all their children together for an Easter celebration snap. She shared a caption in a mixture of English and Spanish: “I love that by 7 kids, I’ve given up on the all looking at the camera and smiling, and just want them to be present in the photo…Happy Easter y felices pascuas to all of you from us. Much love.”