Hollywood

Hollywood heavy hitters terrified of a dramatic spike in crime are laying out millions for panic rooms, a new report reveals.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, well-heeled denizens of the movie colony and other posh areas in southern California have become increasingly paranoid over a worrying spike in homicides and high-profile robberies.

Talent alone couldn’t keep the lights on

Of all the downfalls in Hollywood history, Michael Cimino’s haunts me the most, destroyed by his artistic ambitions in a corporate town whose rules he didn’t want to play by. Orson Welles and Peter Bogdanovich may come close, but they never ruined an entire movement or destroyed a film studio. In a single stroke of hubris and artistic obsession, Cimino burnt down the New Hollywood that created him with just one movie: Heaven’s Gate (1980).

“He affects unselfishness, but is in reality fanatically, even maniacally, self-centered…. He is childlike in his pursuit of pleasure, but shrewd and willful in his studied neglect of responsibility. His sensibilities are exquisitely tender, and yet he has a talent for causing pain…He professes universal tolerance and sweetness to all, though is willing to put his friends through shame, fear, and harm rather than see his own comfort threatened.” No, this quote does not refer to Alec Baldwin, apt though it may seem. It is drawn from an essay about Harold Skimpole, a character in Charles Dickens’ Bleak House. Revisiting the novel, I was struck by the similarity between Harold Skimpole and Alec Baldwin.

The armorer for Rust is not letting Alec Baldwin off the hook for last year’s tragic on-set shooting in New Mexico that killed one member of the Western film’s staff and injured another.

Responding to Baldwin’s recent court filing in which he tried to evade liability, armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed insisted he violated gun safety protocols.

In the shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins at his hands, Alec Baldwin knows who is to blame: Halyna Hutchins.

In jaw-dropping court documents filed on Friday morning, Baldwin says she’s the one that asked the gun be pointed at her; that the production was a smooth, well-oiled machine; that her widower, Matthew, has inexplicably gone from amenable to vengeful — and oh, how confusing and upsetting this is to Baldwin; and that hey, no matter what, Baldwin’s contract indemnifies him for any damages.

The husband of the late cinematographer Halyna Hutchins has said it is “absurd” that producer Alec Baldwin is not taking responsibility for her death.

Matt Hutchins told NBC’s Today he felt “angry” seeing the actor talk publicly about his wife’s death.

Ms Hutchins was killed on the set of his movie Rust in October, after a prop gun Mr Baldwin was holding discharged.