Rory Kennedy Says Her Family History Gave Her "Depth of Relatability" While Directing New Alec Baldwin Doc
Grief changes how you process the world. Rory Kennedy (movies and tv series) knows that better than most - and she says it helped her sit with another person's crisis and really see it.
Her new film, The Trial of Alec Baldwin (movies and tv series), premieres Nov. 13 at DOC NYC. It's a close-up look at the actor in the years after the fatal on-set shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins (movies and tv series) during the production of Rust in 2021 - and what happens when public outrage collides with the justice system.
Need to know
- The documentary follows the aftermath of Hutchins' death on the Rust set.
- Kennedy calls the film a "very intimate portrait" of Alec Baldwin.
- She says Baldwin was "extraordinarily brave" to let cameras in during such a chaotic time.
Why Kennedy stepped in
Kennedy reached out to Baldwin not long after the incident to ask if he'd consider being documented through the fallout. At first, he wasn't sure.
"He was, I would say, resistant at first," she recalls. "And I said, 'Sit on it, think about it. If you're interested, I would love to talk more.'"
When he agreed, Kennedy set clear terms: she would have full editorial control, and Baldwin wouldn't be paid. "We had a contract within a week and an understanding, and I was on the journey with him, and have been on it for the last three years," she says.
Family history, and the space to feel it
Kennedy is one of Ethel Kennedy (movies and tv series) and Senator Robert F. Kennedy (movies and tv series)'s 11 children. Her father and her uncle, President John F. Kennedy (movies and tv series), were both assassinated. That history isn't an aside here - it's part of what she brought to the work.
"I felt like I did have a depth of relatability in terms of what the family (movies and tv series) had gone through, and I also felt like there would be space to explore," she says. "This event impacted everybody on that set and had a ripple effect on so many lives, and so I think it's important to be able to explore that."
What the film captures
Kennedy began filming just before the 2023 manslaughter charges against Baldwin were dropped and was still rolling when he was indicted again in 2024. Those charges were later dismissed as well. For a detailed timeline, see Variety's reporting.
Across that stretch, Kennedy says the portrait that emerges is surprisingly personal. "I think that he was extraordinarily brave and courageous just to allow us to document him during this very tumultuous time, and I think people will see something in him and sides to him that they've never seen before."
She also widens the lens: "It's a character portrait," she says. "But it's also looking at what happens when social media and other chatter kind of trickles its way up into the justice system, and how that, in turn, can, I think, become injustice."
Holding more than one truth
The film centers Baldwin, but it never loses sight of the loss at the core of the story. "This is all in the backdrop of the horrendous tragedy and loss of Halyna," Kennedy says. "In the world we live in today, there should be enough space to explore more than one tragedy that can occur in a situation like this. So I think this film is about that exploration."
That's the tension here: one event, many wounds. A family grieving. A crew whose lives upended. An actor under a spotlight that doesn't turn off. And a public conversation that can tilt the room before anyone steps into court.
Where to see it
The Trial of Alec Baldwin premieres Nov. 13 at the SVA Theatre in New York City during DOC NYC, which runs Nov. 12-20.
Here's what this could mean if you cover film and legal beat: this isn't just a case study in celebrity scrutiny. It's a story about how stories themselves - the ones we tell online, in headlines, in court filings - can shape outcomes, and people, in real time.
