'Rust' Tragedy: DOP Dead, Director Critical After Prop Gun "Discharged" By Alec Baldwin   

►Investigation underway. A prop firearm was discharged by Alec Baldwin on the New Mexico set of Western Rust Thursday, killing a cinematographer and wounding the director, according to the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Department.

Director of Photography Halyna Hutchins, 42, died after being injured when the prop gun was “discharged” by Baldwin, the film’s producer and star. Hutchins was transported by helicopter to the University of New Mexico Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

The second victim was the film’s director, Joel Souza, 48, who was taken by ambulance to Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center, in a critical condition. The story. 

Halyna Hutchins 1979-2021 

►Rising talent. Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who worked on a number of indie productions including Archenemy, Blindfire and The Mad Hatter, died Thursday after being injured when a prop gun was discharged by actor Alec Baldwin on the set of Rust. She was 42. 

Born in Ukraine in 1979, Hutchins grew up on a Soviet military base in the Arctic Circle. She attended Kyiv National University and graduated with a degree in international journalism. In her first career, she worked as an investigative journalist for British documentary productions in Eastern Europe.

Inspired by cinematographers such as Christopher Doyle and Sergey Urusevskiy, she decided to focus on filmmaking and moved to Los Angeles, attending the American Film Institute Conservatory before beginning her career as a cinematographer. 

“I’m so sad about losing Halyna. And so infuriated that this could happen on a set. She was a brilliant talent who was absolutely committed to art and to film,” Archenemy director Adam Egypt Mortimer wrote on Twitter. The obituary. 

Yvonne Orji on Saying Goodbye to 'Insecure'

►"We’ve never seen Black characters like this." The hit HBO series Insecure debuts its final season on Sunday night, and THR's Chris Gardner got a chance to speak to star Yvonne Orji, who plays Molly Carter, the best friend to Issa Rae’s Issa Dee. The actress opened up on what the ride has meant to her as the acclaimed show came to an end. The story. 

—"Bore of the Worlds." THR critic Dan Fienberg reviews Apple TV+’s big-budget sci-fi drama Invasion. Ordinary folks around the world experience the early moments of an alien invasion in different ways in a 10-episode drama from Simon Kinberg and David Weil. The review. 

—"We wouldn’t fit in." UTA CEO Jeremy Zimmer, appearing at a panel moderated by CBS News anchor Michelle Miller hosted by Advertising Week, was asked about Endeavor chief Ari Emanuel's recent comment that his company wasn't interested in buying his agency, he replied, "We have an amazing culture and we are incredibly profitable, so we wouldn’t fit in." The story. 

—$1.5 billion rights deal in peril. Boston Celtics games were yanked from the Chinese internet on Thursday after the team’s star center, Enes Kanter, criticized the country’s oppression of Tibet, calling Chinese President Xi Jinping a “brutal dictator.” The story. 

—The quest continues. Apple TV+ has renewed Mythic Quest for two additional seasons, which will take the comedy series through season four. The pickup announcement comes four months after the show’s second season concluded. Co-creator and star Rob McElhenney broke the news on social media Thursday with help from guest star Anthony Hopkins. The story.

—More hauntings guaranteed. CBS has handed out a speedy second-season renewal to Ghosts, the supernatural comedy starring Rose McIver and Utkarsh Ambudkar. The show launched Oct. 7 to warm reviews and has performed well with the limited delayed viewing figures available. The story.

—"Different tone." House of the Dragon co-showrunner Miguel Sapochnik is breaking his silence on his highly anticipated Game of Thrones prequel series. During an interview about his upcoming Apple movie Finch, the two-time Emmy winner took a couple of questions about his highly anticipated HBO fantasy drama, which is set roughly 200 years before the events in GoT. The story. 

—"Family-friendly fun, with a side of smart social media critique." THR critic Angie Han reviews 20th Century Studios and Locksmith Animation's Ron’s Gone Wrong. The animated feature, featuring the voices of  Zach Galifianakis, Olivia Colman and Ed Helms, centers on a socially awkward middle schooler who's gifted a malfunctioning robot best friend. The review. 

—Who is Roy Johnson? HBO has picked up rights to a Michael Strahan-produced documentary about the strange saga of the Bishop Sycamore football team. Adam McKay’s Hyperobject Industries and The Athletic have also boarded the doc as producers along with SMAC Entertainment and Boat Rocker’s Matador Content. The film is set for a 2022 premiere. The story.

—Casting news. Sam Richardson is getting in the Halloween spirit for the Hocus Pocus sequel. THR has learned that the Veep actor is in final negotiations to appear alongside stars Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy in the Disney+ feature. The story. 

—Apple enters the chat. Netflix’s Squid Game made a big jump up Nielsen's streaming charts for Sept. 20-26, claiming the No. 1 overall spot with a huge week-to-week increase. Nielsen’s weekly chart also features an Apple TV+ series for the first time — Ted Lasso — as the tech giants streaming platform joins Disney+, Hulu, Netflix and Amazon’s Prime Video in being measured for the rankings. The streaming series rankings. 

Thank Pod It's Friday

In other news...

—Film review: Lanie Zipoy's The Subject

—TV review: Netflix’s Inside Job

—TV ratings: Survivor tops Masked Singer with 4-week demo high

—A citywide manhunt for Jake Gyllenhaal and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II ensues in the Ambulance trailer

—Uncharted trailer: Watch Tom Holland as adventurer Nathan Drake

—Beyonce’s new song “Be Alive” teased in King Richard trailer

—Simone Biles is “still scared to do gymnastics” following Tokyo Olympics, Larry Nassar abuse

—Oscars: Hong Kong picks Zero to Hero for international feature category

—Gotham Awards: The Lost Daughter, Passing lead nominations

—Halloween Kills star Anthony Michael Hall on his past, present and future

—Snap crosses $1B in revenue, reaches 306m daily active users in Q3

—Timothy Simons joins Hulu’s true-crime drama Candy

—Gucci to present “Love Parade” fashion show in heart of Hollywood

What else we're reading...

—"’90s Sitcoms Shaped Me as an Immigrant Child. What if They Hadn’t?" [New York Times]

—"Trump’s Truth Social Bans Telling Truth About His Twitter Rival" [New York Magazine]

—"Maid: How The Devastating Drama Became A Word-of-Mouth Smash" [The Guardian]

—"Discovery+ Cuts High-Profile Shows in Programming Shift" [Bloomberg]

—"Who Was the Netflix Walkout Really For?" [Vanity Fair]

Today... 

...in 2004, Fox Searchlight unveiled Alexander Payne's Sideways in theaters, where it would go on to gross $109 million globally. The film earned five nominations at the 77th Academy Awards, winning in the adapted screenplay category. The original review.

Today's birthdays: Jennifer Lee (50), Valeria Golino (56), Saffron Burrows (49), Christopher Lloyd (83), Jeff Goldblum (69), Bob Odenkirk (59), Derek Jacobi (83), Catherine Deneuve (78), Spike Jonze (52), Corey Hawkins (33), Jesse Tyler Ferguson (46), Jan de Bont (78), Bill Condon (66), Luca Marinelli (37), Kyle Gallner (35), Stevie Lynn Jones (26), Carmen Ejogo (48)