Alec Baldwin Accused of 'Acting' in Interview Remarks About How Gun Went Off

Alec Baldwin is being accused of "acting" in his first television interview since the fatal shooting on the set of the movie Rust.

The actor sat down with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos to discuss the incident that saw the film's cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, 42, killed on set after a prop gun being handled by Baldwin discharged.

The full interview will air on Thursday at 8 p.m. ET on ABC but in the meantime, a preview is being widely shared and discussed on Twitter.

In the clip, Baldwin tells Stephanopoulos that he didn't pull the trigger on the gun that killed Hutchins.

"The trigger wasn't pulled. I didn't pull the trigger. I would never point a gun at someone and pull the trigger on them, never," Baldwin said.

He also said he has "no idea" how a live bullet made it into the prop gun, or on to the set at all.

"Someone put a live bullet in a gun, a bullet that wasn't even supposed to be on the property," he said.

The preview for Baldwin's discussion with Stephanopoulos also sees the actor become visibly distressed and upset as he recounts the incident. When asked if this is the worst thing that has ever happened to him, he responds: "Yep...yeah, because I think back and I think of 'what could I have done?'"

He holds his head in his hands and goes on to say: "Even now, I find it hard to believe. It just doesn't seem real to me."

He is also seen wiping away tears and breaking down as Stephanopoulos asks him how he can come to terms with what happened.

The preview also features dramatic music and is edited almost like a movie trailer, and Baldwin's defeated and upset demeanor in it has prompted claims that he is acting from some of his critics on social media.

"Alec Baldwin appears to have done one hell of an acting job with George Stephanopoulos," tweeted conservative author Nick Adams.

While Twitch streamer Ryan "Gootecks" Gutierrez called the interview Baldwin's "most controversial role yet: acting like he didn't pull the trigger."

Another tweet reads: "Alec Baldwin's interview with George Stephanopoulos might have been his best piece of acting yet."

Newsweek has reached out to Baldwin's representatives for comment.

In November, attorneys representing the armorer for Rust, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, said that they are investigating if someone attempted to "sabotage the set" by placing a real bullet with the fake rounds in the prop gun that was used by Baldwin.

"I believe that somebody who would do that would want to sabotage the set, want to prove a point, want to say that they're disgruntled, they're unhappy," Jason Bowles, representing Gutierrez-Reed, told NBC's Today Show.

However, after this, the Santa Fe District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies disputed the claims made by Bowles.

"I know that some defense attorneys have come up with conspiracy theories and have used the word sabotage. We do not have any proof," Carmack-Altwies said during an interview with Good Morning America.