It was in October 2021 that the film's lead actor Alec Baldwin fired a shot with a gun that was supposed to be loaded with blanks – but which turned out to be live. The shot hit and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza.
Souza tells AFP that the incident left him emotionally shattered. He admits that he struggled with whether to complete the film.
I was definitely hesitant. There was a time when I thought I didn't want to make films anymore, he said.
What convinced Souza was the knowledge that Hutchins' husband wanted her last work to be shown.
Joel Souza was also present in Poland to present the film, and the premiere was dedicated to Hutchins.
However, Halyna Hutchins' mother Olga Solovey boycotted the film premiere. She sees it as an attempt by Alec Baldwin to use her daughter's death for financial gain, she says in a statement via her lawyer to the British news agency PA.
The court dropped the charges against Alec Baldwin for manslaughter. However, lawsuits against him remain, including one from Hutchins' mother. The film's armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed was sentenced to 18 months in prison for manslaughter earlier this year.
Alec Baldwin will not be attending the premiere, the Camerimage film festival has announced.
