‘Rust’ producer linked to upcoming Dustin Hoffman movie
An upcoming movie featuring Dustin Hoffman and Sissy Spacek involves a producer behind “Rust,” the western film where cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed on the set of the production.
Thomasville Pictures is listed as a production company on the movie “Sam & Kate” and the Georgia-based film company’s founder Ryan Donnell Smith is listed as executive producer, according to IMDb. While Smith is involved in financing the film and will get an executive producer credit, his company Thomasville Pictures will not be producing, a person close to the production said. Volition Media Partners is the only production company on the movie, the person said. Variety first reported their involvement.
Representatives for the “Rust” producers, including Smith, did not respond to requests for comment.
The producers behind the fateful “Rust” movie have drawn scrutiny after Alec Baldwin accidentally fired a gun during a scene, killing Hutchins and injuring the director Joel Souza. Two members of the “Rust” crew have filed lawsuits against the producers, Baldwin and others, alleging they ignored safety protocols that would have prevented the tragedy. No criminal charges have been filed in the case of “Rust,” which police are still investigating.
The producers, Rust Movie Productions LLC, have said the safety of the cast and crew is the top priority of Rust Productions and everyone associated with the company. “Though we were not made aware of any official complaints concerning weapon or prop safety on set, we will be conducting an internal review of our procedures while production is shut down” Rust Productions said previously.
Baldwin has previously said he is “fully cooperating with the police investigation to address how this tragedy occurred.”
Earlier this month, the chief lighting technician on “Rust” — who held Hutchins in his arms as she lay dying on the film set — filed a civil lawsuit in Los Angeles that alleges the feature’s producers, including Baldwin, were negligent in the cinematographer’s death. It was followed by another suit by a script supervisor on the movie alleging producers intentionally ignored safety protocols that would have prevented the tragedy.
Smith co-owns Thomasville Pictures with Allen Cheney, which has filmed movies featuring stars like Machine Gun Kelly and Mel Gibson in southern Georgia.
Thomasville Pictures also produced movies “One Way” and “Supercell,” also starring Baldwin.
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