A planned environmental documentary about the Flint water crisis has been postponed because of narrator Alec Baldwin’s involvement in the Rust shooting.
“We’ve postponed the US theatrical & digital release of @FlintTheMovie following recent tragic events out of respect. Enabling the #Flint residents’ story to be heard remains hugely important to me and we will ensure the film’s release at a later date,” director Anthony Baxter said in a tweet.
Flint – Who Can You Trust? was supposed to come out on Oct. 29. The director hasn’t set a new date for release.
The documentary follows the city of Flint’s water crisis after it switched water sources from Lake Huron to Flint River to cut costs. That water was corrosive and made the drinking water in the city poisonous.
Upwards of 25,000 people were exposed to contaminants in the water.
Baldwin was involved in a shooting on the set of Rust. He was reportedly handed a loaded gun without his knowledge. When he fired the pistol it struck cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and director Joel Souza. Hutchins later died from her injuries.
David Halls, the AD on the film, reportedly handed Baldwin the pistol and said it was a “cold gun,” meaning there was no live ammunition in it. Halls was previously fired from a different movie set when a gun unexpectedly discharged. That movie, called Freedom’s Path, has yet to be released.
Baxter said now just isn’t the time to release the Flint movie. The producers of the movie had been raising money on Kickstarter to bring it to more cities, but that’s been postponed as well.
According to the Kickstarter page, the movie “is a searing portrait of environmental racism and political cynicism and shows the terrifying consequences when public trust in authority – and science – completely breaks down. As the mountains of discarded plastic bottles continue to grow in Flint, it also demonstrates how precious our water supply is to everyone.”
