AceShowbiz - Alec Baldwin may be named a defendant in the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of his "Rust" film. The 64-year-old actor may soon face charge(s) by prosecutors after he handed in his cellphone to be considered as evidence.

Baldwin was named in a letter sent by Santa Fe District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies asking for funding to prosecute the case, Mail Online reported on Monday (26.09.22). Rumor has it, the DA was ready to file charges against four people.

She is said to have stopped short of confirming the charges she planned to bring, but reportedly added she was "certainly looking all the homicide statutes and any gun statutes under New Mexico criminal code." Her letter is said to read, "One of the possible defendants is well known movie actor Alec Baldwin."

The district attorney is said to have asked for $635,000 (£594,000) to prosecute the case, saying she needed the money to go up against well-funded attorneys.

Alec last month said he had lost five jobs since the "Rust" shooting. He added he would have quit the film business if it wasn't for the support of his wife Hilaria Baldwin, 38, who has just had their seventh child, a daughter named Ilaria.

Alec told CNN in August about his career since 42-year-old Halyna's killing, "I got fired from another job yesterday. There I was all set to go to a movie, jump on a plane... I've been talking with these guys for months and they told me yesterday we don't want to do the film with you because of this."

He added about Hilaria's support, "If I didn't have my wife, I don't know where I would be right now... if I didn't have her, I probably would have quit, retired, gone off, you know sold everything I owned, got a house in the middle of nowhere and just you know did find something else to do, sell real estate."

Alec has said, if and when he does return to a movie or TV set, he will refuse to work with real guns and wants to leave the creation of realistic pistols to digital effects. He has also added there is not a day that goes by he doesn't think about Hutchins and what happened the day she was shot last October.

Alec said, "Everybody adored her as a person. That she died, that's the worst thing of all. Somebody died, and it was avoidable. It was so unnecessary. Every day of my life I think about that."

He has placed responsibility for the tragedy on Hannah Gutierrez Reed, 24, who served as the armorer and props assistant on "Rust", as well as assistant director Dave Halls - said to be 48 to 51-years-old - who handed him the gun.

Through their attorneys, Hannah and Dave accused Alec of deflecting blame onto others.