Two of the Eastern seaboard states hardest hit by Hurricane Irene remarkably emerged relatively unscathed when it came to their filmmaking business. That was the word from Aaron Syrett and Joe Bookchin, the film commissioners of North Carolina and Vermont, respectively.
Syrett noted, “All productions are up and running. Two productions took a day off on Friday (8/26) as a precaution in preparations for the storm….There wasn’t any damage to our studio facilities. Business as usual today.”
While footage of significant flooding in parts of Vermont was prevalent in news coverage, entertainment filming activity hasn’t been adversely affected as of yet, according to Bookchin. “New information is still coming in–but there are no major setbacks that I know of so far,” he reported.
Bookchin related that the biggest Irene-triggered entertainment/arts casualty in Vermont has to this point has been a new stage musical, Saint-Ex, which was continuing its run at The Weston Playhouse in the city of Weston. The facility was overrun this past Sunday with between six and 12 feet of water in various lower levels of the theater. The grand piano used for the show was destroyed when the orchestra pit was flooded. The overflow was from the nearby West River.
Escaping the worst of Irene, Washington, D.C. still had plans scrapped for what was to have been Sunday’s dedication of the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial. Extensive filming of the event was scheduled, including a documentary which was postponed.
Irene’s impact was also felt at last weekend’s box office with people all along the East Coast holed up in their residences. Initial estimates are that domestic movie theater receipts dropped some 20 percent due to Irene.
Alec Baldwin Urges Judge To Stand By Dismissal Of Involuntary Manslaughter Case In “Rust” Shooting
Alec Baldwin urged a New Mexico judge on Friday to stand by her decision to skuttle his trial and dismiss an involuntary manslaughter charge against the actor in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the set of a Western movie.
State District Court Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer dismissed the case against Baldwin halfway through a trial in July based on the withholding of evidence by police and prosecutors from the defense in the 2021 shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the film "Rust."
The charge against Baldwin was dismissed with prejudice, meaning it can't be revived once any appeals of the decision are exhausted.
Special prosecutor Kari Morrissey recently asked the judge to reconsider, arguing that there were insufficient facts and that Baldwin's due process rights had not been violated.
Baldwin, the lead actor and co-producer on "Rust," was pointing a gun at cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during a rehearsal when it went off, killing her and wounding director Joel Souza. Baldwin has said he pulled back the hammer — but not the trigger — and the revolver fired.
The case-ending evidence was ammunition that was brought into the sheriff's office in March by a man who said it could be related to Hutchins' killing. Prosecutors said they deemed the ammunition unrelated and unimportant, while Baldwin's lawyers alleged that they "buried" it and filed a successful motion to dismiss the case.
In her decision to dismiss the Baldwin case, Marlowe Sommer described "egregious discovery violations constituting misconduct" by law enforcement and prosecutors, as well as false testimony about physical evidence by a witness during the trial.
Defense counsel says that prosecutors tried to establish a link... Read More