Alec Baldwin's post-Rust-shooting plans reportedly include Broadway

There are many enticing prospects that can draw a celebrated screen actor to the stage: an EGOT, an especially musical break from action movies, or even living out the real-life character arc of your most iconic role.

But for Alec Baldwin, the motivations are altogether different and depressingly unique: Baldwin reportedly plans to return to Broadway for one of his first roles since he accidentally shot and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in 2021 on the set of the Western Rust. The weapon, which Baldwin had understood to be cold (in other words, not loaded with live ammunition), misfired, also injuring director Joel Souza. Baldwin will reportedly star in a revival of Yasmina Reza’s Art, per the New York Post, his first role since the incident.

Art, which first premiered in 1994, follows three friends whose relationships begin to shift and falter after one of them purchases an expensive and divisive painting. Tony Shalhoub and John Leguizamo will reportedly round out the principal cast, with Tony-winner Matthew Warchus directing. Warchus is a veteran of the production, having previously staged Art in 1998.

Beyond the fanfare of Baldwin’s casting (which it’s worth noting he nor his representatives have confirmed), details about the Art revival are simultaneously amorphous and oddly set in stone. In an unusual turn for a Broadway show, Art already has a venue, cast, and director, but has yet to select a producer. Per the Post, Creative Artists Agency, the group currently handling production duties, is “auditioning” producers in New York.

The announcement of Baldwin’s new role comes just shortly after the actor spoke out about the Rust shooting in a CNN interview, where he lamented the fact that the incident has cost him roles before.

“I got fired from another job yesterday,” he says. “There I was all set to go to a movie, jump on a plane … I’ve been talking with these guys for months and they told me yesterday we don’t want to do the film with you because of this… There is just this torrent of people attacking me who don’t know the facts.”

In the same interview, Baldwin even went so far as to point fingers at who he feels is responsible for Hutchins’ death—although he pulled the trigger, Baldwin seems not to consider himself one of those people.

In Baldwin’s eyes, he explains, armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed, who was responsible for loading and handling ammunition, and assistant director Dave Halls are culpable for Hutchins’ tragic death. Both Halls’ and Gutierrez Reed’s respective attorneys have made statements accusing Baldwin of deflecting blame. Halls handed Baldwin the gun, which Baldwin insists he believed was cold.

“There are two people who didn’t do what they were supposed to do,” Baldwin says. “I’m not sitting there saying I want them to, you know, go to prison, or I want their lives to be hell. I don’t want that, but I want everybody to know that those are the two people that are responsible for what happened.”