Alec Baldwin’s next starring role will be about a notorious shooting

Two days after announcing he had finally wrapped on the tragedy-stricken Western film Rust, Alec Baldwin has his next job lined up. The actor, 65, will star in Kent State, a film about the tragic shootings on the campus of Kent State University back in May 1970 that left four unarmed students dead and nine others injured.

Members of the Ohio National Guard opened fire during a peace rally opposing the expanding involvement of the Vietnam War into Cambodia by the United States military forces as well as protesting the National Guard presence on campus. Baldwin will play the role of then-president of the university Robert White, , according to The Hollywood Reporter. The upcoming film that will mark Karen Slade’s feature directorial debut, working from a script she also wrote.

Inspired by true events of the so-called May 4 massacre, the story is told through the perspective of Will McCormack in two time periods in his life, according to a Deadline. It asks both the question of what happened then and why these kinds of events continue to happen. ‘The Kent State shooting was a dark and pivotal moment in our nation’s history. This is a story that needs to be told and surprisingly never has,’ producer Tom Ortenberg told the publication.

‘We are looking forward to bringing it to the big screen to educate and inspire both the young and old alike.’ The outlet also revealed that Dermot Mulroney, Clancy Brown, Aksel Hennie, Christopher Backus, Christopher Ammanuel, Andrew Ortenberg and Jacqueline Emerson had been cast. Baldwin’s casting comes on the heels of him finishing the filming for Rust.

In the Western, the longtime leading man plays an infamous outlaw who comes out of hiding to stop his 13-year-old grandson from being hanged for murder. The shoot began in New Mexico on October 6, 2021, but was put on indefinite hold two weeks later after a prop gun held by Baldwin discharged, wounding director Joel Souza and killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

Baldwin would eventually be charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter, in New Mexico. Eventually, Baldwin and other Rust producers settled a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Hutchins’ widower Matthew Hutchins in October 2022. The team also agreed to complete the movie with Matthew Hutchins as an executive producer, along with Bianca Cline completing his late wife’s work as cinematographer.

Ultimately, those criminal charges against Baldwin were dropped on April 20, 2023, and he returned to the set to finish filming his scenes in Montana the very next day. On Monday, May 15, the Oscar-nominated actor announced he was wrapping up Rust in an Instagram post.

‘Last day on the set of RUST with this guy. A very talented actor and lovely young man with a bright future ahead. My love to you, @patrickscottmcdermott,’ he wrote. Later that day, Baldwin showed off a freshly shaven face, writing in the caption, ‘God, it felt go