Alec Baldwin addresses “uninformed” Americans and his wife's “trauma.”

After a really “painful” three years since he by accident shot cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of his western “Rust” in 2021, Alec Baldwin should this week relish the chance to rejoice his profession by being honored in Europe with an award for his life's work.

But in typical Baldwin fashion, he opened his mouth to reporters. During a press conference on the Turin Film Festival, the often-polarizing actor finally said things about Americans and feminine directors that caused a stir in some parts of the web. In one other interview, he asked for sympathy for his almost equally controversial influencer Hilaria Baldwin, emphasizing that she was particularly “traumatized” by Hutchins' death.

So where to start with Baldwin's headline-grabbing comments within the Italian media?

First, throughout the press conference, Baldwin expressed concern about Americans' lack of information of politics and the state of the world within the wake of Donald Trump's election to a second term as president. in line with The Hollywood Reporter. While Baldwin was asked about his concern for America following Trump's re-election, the veteran actor, a lifelong Democrat who famously parodied Trump on “Saturday Night Live,” didn’t mention the previous reality TV star by name.

Still, he said, “There is a hole, a vacuum… an information gap for Americans. “Americans are very poorly informed in regards to the reality of what's really occurring – climate change, Ukraine, whatever.”

“On the world's biggest issues, Americans have a craving for a little information,” Baldwin continued, although his comments are sure to spark outrage among critics who see him as arrogant and elitist. “That vacuum is being filled by the film industry,” Baldwin said. “Not just the independent film industry, not just the documentary film industry, but also narrative films.”

Baldwin was also asked about the role of female directors in the industry. according to The Hollywood Reporter. On the one hand, he tried to praise female directors by saying it's “a very good thing” that more women are directing major films.

“In cinema in the '80s and '90s, for every 100 directors, there were 98 men and two women,” Baldwin said. “Well, it’s not like that, and that’s a good thing.”

But then Baldwin couldn't help himself. He said: “For some movies you wish an brisk director who continually moves the camera, and maybe a male director is healthier.”

“But in a comedy or drama with quite a lot of talk, what's the difference between a male director and a female director?” Baldwin said. “In fact, a female director has more introspective skills.”

So women can't be energetic?

Possibly Baldwin was referring to his belief that women were not particularly suited to directing male-oriented action films with lots of fights and big-budget special effects. But Kathryn Bigelow famously became the first woman to win a best director Oscar for directing “The Hurt Locker,” the intense 2009 Iraq war film that won best picture. Jane Campion, certainly known for “lots of talk” dramas, also won best director for the 2022 western “The Power of the Dog.”

It was reported that Baldwin only agreed to be guest of honor at the Turin Film Festival if Italian reporters at the press conference were barred from questioning him about Hutchins' death in October 2021. Variety said.

But Baldwin ended up talking to a reporter for diversity about “Rust,” “openly sharing your feelings” about the film’s premiere, and “cancel culture.”

Hutchins was killed on the film's set in New Mexico when Baldwin handled a prop gun and pointed it in her direction during a rehearsal. The weapon was intended to be loaded only with dummy cartridges, but contained a live cartridge that fatally wounded Hutchins when the weapon fired. Baldwin was tried for involuntary manslaughter, but the judge dismissed the charge after learning that prosecutors had withheld evidence.

Baldwin, director Joel Souza and other members of the cast and crew eventually completed the film and said they wanted to honor Hutchins. The film received a mostly “polite” response when it had its world premiere at the EnergaCamerimage festival in Poland last week. However, some viewers were visibly “uncomfortable” watching scenes of Baldwin “shooting people” in the film, a Vulture critic reported.

Baldwin wasn't invited to the premiere because festival organizers said they feared his presence would be “too distracting.”

In his interview with Variety, Baldwin said he hasn't seen the final cut of “Rust” and doesn't want to see it “right away.”

“Just because this is clearly the toughest thing I've ever needed to take care of in my life,” said Baldwin, who then explained why the shooting and its aftermath were particularly difficult for his wife.

“Aside from the victims themselves, what hurts me most is what it did to my wife,” Baldwin said. “My wife was very, very traumatized by this. There was great pain. When you're married to someone and everything was going pretty well and we had seven kids… and the bottom falls out. It's very scary and very disturbing. And we’re trying to get the wind in our sails to get away from this stuff.”

While the shooting may have been “traumatizing” for Hilaria Baldwin, the former yoga instructor and once-aspiring lifestyle and parenting influencer also faced criticism for appearing to exploit the tragedy in a way that left her took advantage of her seven small children. In the weeks following Hutchins' death, Hilaria Baldwin, known for her love of media attention, continued to post numerous pictures of her children daily.

The Instagram posts contained potentially private content about the Baldwin family's personal life amid her husband's on-set crisis over filming. Some pictures showed the children playing and enjoying Christmas. However, other images showed the children acting or looking sad and distressed, prompting public relations and crisis experts to accuse Hilaria Baldwin of using her children as “props” to elicit sympathy while also appearing “narcissistic” in the face of it. and “callous.” Hutchins' young son lost his mother.

Both Hilaria and Alec Baldwin have been criticized recently for exploiting their children, including in the weeks leading up to his manslaughter trial this summer. In an “oddly” timed move before the trial began, the couple announced that they and their seven children would star in a brand new TLC reality TV show about their hectic family life.

For Baldwin, an Emmy winner and Oscar nominee who was once on his strategy to becoming a Hollywood leading man before becoming certainly one of the industry's most revered character actors, starring in a reality TV show is as Disappointment in his profession. But an appearance on a reality show was more in keeping with the skilled ambitions of his wife, whose once-lucrative profession as an influencer collapsed when she was embroiled in a scandal over damning evidence that she had spent greater than a decade faking a Spanish accent and Identity.