Alec Baldwin

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Baldwin has also had a tumultuous time as a public figure. For much of the last 40 years, paparazzi and tabloids have fixated on him, and he has not always conducted himself in a manner that would discourage their interest. Then, on Oct. 21, 2021, on the set of Rust, a low-budget indie that he was starring in and producing in New Mexico, a tragic accident occurred: a gun was handed to him to use in a scene, supposedly having already been checked by an armorer to confirm it was unloaded, but when the gun fired (Baldwin said he didn’t pull the trigger), a live round emerged, killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injuring director Joel Souza.

As a result, Baldwin’s last few years have been a rather unpleasant rollercoaster ride, as is chronicled in Oscar nominee Rory Kennedy’s new documentary The Trial of Alec Baldwin. In January 2023, Baldwin was charged with involuntary manslaughter, but in April 2023, that charge was dropped. Then, in January 2024, he was again charged with involuntary manslaughter. But, in July 2024, three days into his trial, all charges against him were dismissed with prejudice after the judge found that authorities had deliberately withheld evidence from his defense team. Baldwin was cleared, but his life would never be the same.

Over the course of this interview in Boulder, Baldwin enthralled an audience of hundreds with colorful anecdotes, vocal impressions and physical comedy bits. He also opened up, perhaps to a greater extent than ever before, about the Rust tragedy, the toll that it has taken on his health and how it has impacted outlook for the future. You can listen to the full conversation via the audio player near the top of this post or any major podcast app, or you can read a few memorable excerpts from it below.

On working with Hollywood studios…

“This is the best way to define movie studios and producers, and I’m going to try to tone this down and not make it too vulgar: They go to your mother’s house and they rape your mother. They attack your mother. They beat her. They rape your mother. They take the whole weekend to rape your mother. It’s a horrible, horrible thing. 18 months later, you run into them at a party or a screening and they go, ‘Hey, man, I’m sorry. I know we raped your mother, but I got a script that is so good for you. It is so good. Let’s do business. Let’s not anything stand in the way of doing business.'”

On his post-The Hunt for Red October decision to do A Streetcar Named Desire on Broadway…

“When I did Streetcar, it changed my life. It changed my life in ways I never thought possible. And even though I lost a lot in the process — it really was the beginning of me turning away from playing leading roles in studio films and doing a lot of indies — I wouldn’t change anything because the play was really such an extraordinary experience for me. I loved it.”

On his cameo in Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman…

“He gives me a monologue, I memorize the whole thing and I go to his studio in Brooklyn, 40 Acres [and a Mule Filmworks] — he’s got a little floor with some staging, and he shoots stuff there if it’s minimal, if it’s not like a big sweeping thing. So we’re shooting there — he got me there early in the morning, I was tired, I memorized my lines — and he goes, ‘I changed the script. I want you to memorize this.’ And I’m like, ‘Shit.’ They’re putting the makeup on me, I’m half-dead, I’m guzzling coffee, I go out there and

Alec Baldwin Talks 'Rust' Prosecution Health Toll, Retiring on Podcast