UPDATE: Director Joel Souza is out of hospital, we have confirmed with the filmmaker’s reps.
PREVIOUS STORY: Rust director Joel Souza is now out of hospital, according to one of the film’s stars Frances Fisher.
During a Twitter conversation with Patricia Arquette, veteran actress Fisher Tweeted that Souza told her he was out of hospital:
Director Joel Souza told me he’s out of hospital.
— Frances Fisher (@Frances_Fisher) October 22, 2021
She reiterated the same during an online interaction in which she takes an article to task for issuing false information about the incident.
Hi @shannonrwatts
Those quotes are incorrect. And our director Joel Souza is out of hospital.
I don’t subscribe to the daily beast so if that’s what they’re saying, they are wrong.
Will you please correct them? https://t.co/s8LdkLKf0N— Frances Fisher (@Frances_Fisher) October 22, 2021
We have reached out to Souza’s reps and the production for confirmation.
Souza was injured Thursday during an incident on the set of western Rust, which saw DoP Halyna Hutchins tragically lose her life. Authorities confirmed that the incident arose after actor Alec Baldwin discharged a prop gun. Baldwin has been released without charge after questioning.
Hutchins, 42, died not long after being transported to a hospital in Albuquerque, NM.
“Mr. Baldwin was questioned by investigators and released,” a Santa Fe Sheriff’s Department official told Deadline yesterday. “No arrests or charges have been filed.”
Here’s the full statement from the Santa Fe Sheriff’s department:
Santa Fe County Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to the Bonanza Creek Ranch movie set of the western “Rust”, October 21, 2021, when an 911 caller reported a shooting on the set.
The sheriff’s office confirms that two individuals were shot on the set of Rust. Halyna Hutchins, 42, director of photography and Joel Souza, 48, director, were shot when a prop firearm was discharged by Alec Baldwin, 68, producer and actor.
Ms. Hutchins was transported, via helicopter, to University of New Mexico Hospital where she was pronounced dead by medical personnel. Mr. Souza was transported by ambulance to Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical center where he is undergoing treatment for his injuries.
This investigation remains open and active. No charges have been filed in regard to this incident. Witnesses continue to be interviewed by detectives.