♪ and always ♪ ♪ ♪ [ cheers and applause ] ♪ this is "nightline." >> byron: tonight, alec baldwin on trial. dramatic moments from the first day of the actor's involuntary manslaughter trial. >> he pointed the gun at another human being, cocked the hammer, and pulled that trigger. >> byron: at issue, whether baldwin was negligent in the shooting death of a cinematographer while they were rehearsing a scene for move they "rust." >> this was an unspeakable

tragedy, but alec baldwin committed no crime. >> byron: months after the shooting, baldwin told abc news he did not pull the trigger. >> i would never point a gun at anyone and pull the trigger, never. >> byron: but prosecutors allege he was part of a pattern of recklessness on the set. could alec baldwin be sentenced to prison time? plus rita ora. ♪ i'm gonna love you >> byron: the black widow sing back on the big screen in "descendents" in a role -- >> i love to play the villain, i feel i'm pretty good at it. >> byron: hitting the cycle on new music, "and you shall receive." ♪ and you shall receive ♪ >> byron: and spelling the tea. >> how do you relate to each other in your creative pursuits? >> byron: almost a quarter of a century later," gladiator 2." could it be part of a new

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hutchins her life. baldwin's high-profile legal team says their client committed no crime. here's abc's mola lenghi. >> mr. baldwin, how confident are you that the jury will find you not guilty? >> reporter: actor alec baldwin arriving to tort amid a crush of media from around the globe. baldwin now facing a jury in the fatal shooting of cinematographer halyna hutchens on the set of the western movie "rust" nearly three years ago. his wife, ilaria, and his brother, fellow actor stephen bald baldwin, seated behind him. >> you'll hear the words "prop gun." you'll learn a prop gun is this real gun. it's not a toy. it's not made of rubber. it's a real gun. >> reporter: the high-profile case under way in santa fe, the picturesque capital of new mexico. the trial just 20 miles from where the shooting happened. its harrowing aftermath caught

on cameras worn by first responders. baldwin is charged with felony involuntary manslaughter in hutchins' death. >> one of the main problems that afternoon of october 21st was that the defendant didn't do a gun safety check with that inexperienced armorer. >> reporter: at issue is whether he was negligent in handling the prop gun that killed hutch.s, who was married with a young son, while baldwin was rehea rehearsing for a shooting scene. this video filmed hours before hutchins was killed. baldwin has pleaded not guilty. he says he did not know the gun was loaded with a live round and claims he did not pull the trigger. if convicted, he faces up to 18 months in prison. in court, prosecutors describing a pattern of recklessness on the set. >> he pointed the gun at another human being, cocked the hammer, and pulled that trigger. in reckless disregard for miss hutchins' safety.

>> this was an unspeakable tragedy, but alec baldwin committed no crime. he was an actor, acting. the most critical issue in this case is how a real bullet got on a movie set. >> reporter: baldwin's high-powered defense attorney, alex spiro, pushing back hard. >> it's a scene similar to scenes we've all seen in movies and television performed by thousands of actors. >> reporter: baldwin has been a hollywood mainstay for four decades. he shot to stardom in the late '80s and early '90s starring in films like "the hunt for red october." "beetlejuice." >> what i mean is, can you be scary? >> what do you think of this? you like it? >> reporter: and "glen garry glen ross." >> a, b, c, always be closing. >> reporter: winning two emmys as his role for john donaghy in "30 rock." >> i'm jack donaghy for nbc universal kmart. >> we own kmart now?

>> no, so why are you dressed like we do? >> reporter: another for his portrayal of then president donald trump on "saturday night live." >> i'm the only guy who even knows what iq means, most people don't even know what it it stands for. in-quedible." >> reporter: he and his wife announcing their latest project, a reality show with their seven young kids. >> he's someone who has a big family that hilaria baldwin documents on instagram. they signed with tlc to document their life. >> will or will not be included? >> if i were tlc, i'd want it to be. >> reporter: criticism coming on the cloud of baldwin's impending trial. october 2021 during the second week of filming, tragedy struck. >> 911, what's the location of your emergency? >> we need a -- we need an ambulance out at bonanza creek ranch right now, two people shot

accidentally. >> reporter: baldwin was practicing with a colt when a live round fired from the gun, striking 22-year-old halyna hutchins in the chest and injuring director joel souza. hutchins was airlifted to a hospital, where she later died. souza was treated and released. >> i was the one with the gun. what do you need? >> reporter: baldwin spoke about that day with abc's george stephanopoulos. >> i'm handed a gun and someone declares, "this is a cold gun." the first a.d. in my years," hot gun" meant there was a charge, "cold gun" meant there was nothing in there. when he's saying this is a cold gun what he's saying to everybody on the set is, you can relax. the fgun is empty. >> that's what eltd cold gun means? >> it means there's no charge in there. there could be dummy rounds. >> reporter: baldwin says hutchins instructed him to point

the gun. >> i said, i'm going to cock the gun, do you want to see that? she says yes. do you see that, do you see that? i let go of the hammer of the gun and the gun goes off. >> you never pulled the trigger? >> no, i would never point a gun at someone and pull the trigger, no. >> reporter: charges were fired against the armorer and halls. halls plead nod contest to negligent use of a deadly weapon as part of a plea deal. he was sentenced to six months of unsupervised release in march 2023. >> we find the defendant, hannah gutierrez, guilty of involuntary manslaughter as charged. >> reporter: convicted of involuntary manslaughter earlier this year, receiving the maximum sentence of 18 months. she's appealing her sentence from prison. >> someone who played make-believe with a real gun and violated the cardinal rules of firearm safety is the defendant, alexander baldwin. >> reporter: now the trial against against alec baldwin is

under way, the prosecution calling on four expert witnesses. >> my suspicion was that they were live rounds. >> how many rounds altogether did you discover that you thought were suspected live rounds on the set of "rust"? >> five and the spent casing, so six in total. >> reporter: painting a picture of a mismanaged set rife with poorly-handled ammunition and firearms. >> how many rounds that were in that holster did you suspect were live? >> one. >> based on your work on this case, do you know who was the a actor who was assigned to that holster? >> alec baldwin. >> reporter: also taking the stand, two deputies who arrived to the set minutes after shooting. footage from their lapel cameras capturing the tense, chaotic moments at the scene. >> everybody stop what they're doing right now. this is a crime scene. >> reporter: medics stendsing to halyna humpens and carrying the two victims away on stretchers. the gun, which was not submitted

in armorer hannah gutierrez's trial, admitted as a key piece of evidence in these court proceedings. lieutenant benevidez detained gutierrez at the crime scene. >> this is the gun that hannah gutierrez, the armorer, handed to me. it is the gun that's in front of me. this is the gun that the armorer, hannah gutierrez, handed to me. >> reporter: video from the scene showing gutierrez clearly emotional, while interacting with officers. >> one of the things we know about the "rust" set is that it was a low-budget movie and a lot of choices were being made about how to spend money that seemed to impact the safety on the set. for instance, hannah gutierrez reed, the armorer, was a very inexperienced person, only done one movie. >> gutierrez was charged with bringing ammunition, guns, testing them, but more

importantly, ensuring that it was properly loaded beforehand is it to an actor. >> reporter: the question remains, was alec baldwin to blame? defense attorneys pointing blame at the armorer and assistant director, saying baldwin was given a loaded gun. >> you don't know how the live bullet got on the movie set? >> i do not. >> you don't know why the armorer load it into the prop gun, she didn't tell you that? >> no, i do not. >> you don't know why the first a.d. failed to detect it? >> i do not. >> i have nothing further for this witness at this time. >> reporter: the trial is expected to last ten days while baldwin's fate is unknown. but hutchins' death has already left a lasting imprint on hollywood. will what happened on the "rust" movie set this tragedy, will that impact how movies operate? >> "rust" has already changed movie sets. some directors have come forward and said they have no reason for having real guns in the age of computer-generated imagery. there was also a law passed in california last year that

required new rules and protocols and permits for people who do the job of the armorer. >> so it's not just shaping up to be a cautionary tale? actual change is happening? >> indeed, yeah. >> byron: our thanks to mola. when we return, we're one on one with rita ora. ♪ ♪ should have known better than to mess with me harder ♪ >> from black widow to the queen of hearts, why she says music and film bring creative balance to her life. ♪ i'm the black widow baby ♪ s d. now, there's skyrizi. ♪ things are looking up ♪ ♪ i've got symptom relief ♪ ♪ control of my crohn's means everything to me ♪ (♪) ♪ control is everything to me ♪ feel significant symptom relief at 4 weeks with skyrizi, including less abdominal pain and fewer bowel movements. skyrizi is the first il-23 inhibitor that can deliver remission and visibly improve damage of the intestinal lining.

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>> byron: welcome back. rita ora seems to move fluently between greater pursuits, music embodied with energy. her film roles have a lyrical qual quality. she says both outlets allow her to connect with a larger audience. >> reporter: right sa ora, thank you for joining us. i'm doing well, how are you doing? >> good, really happy to be here, thanks. >> reporter: we've seen you in "the 50 shades of grey" franchise, movies like "twist." you started out in theater school after emigrating from kosovo to london. >> yes. >> reporter: does it feel like you're making good on your childhood dreams? >> does it? are you kidding? this is sort of like the best job in the world. every day i'm so grateful. i wake up and i do a job that i love. and i know how lucky that makes me. but it's a lot of work, too. this has always been my dream, to be a 360 entertainer. doing music and doing film. >> reporter: tell me a little bit about "the rise of red."

a bit of a spinoff on the "alice in wonderland" series. what drew you to the project? >> the "dend ants" franchise is something i've been following forever. >> you've been chosen to go to a different school. >> what? >> this is a jump off that, its own thing. "the rise of red" is a beautiful story about a mother and a child, my role is the queen of hearts which is cool because she's so iconic and has been played by so many incredible actors. >> the queen of hearts! >> i have been waiting years to be invited back. >> you said oradon is the worst. >> with my daughter there, it might not always be. >> wait, really? >> i'm very mean, actually. it was really fun playing a villain. >> put on something respectable for once. >> that's why i'm wearing all red. a nod to the queen of hearts. and everything i'm wearing in the movie is red. and, you know, she finds her daughter to be sort of a nuisance, but she loves her, but you discover why she's the way she is.

>> reporter: let's see you as the queen of hearts are here's a clip. >> bridget. i didn't expect to see you here. >> emma. it's "your royal highness" now. >> of course. you must be very proud. >> reporter: you said the queen of hearts is mean. is she actually a tyrant? or is she just misunderstood? >> she's misunderstood. some people love to hear -- i was always a big villain fan. she's misunderstood. she's protective. she's very defensive. she's been through a lot. >> reporter: rita ora always went after the villain arc. i feel people don't really expect that. >> i know. i liked it. i like playing a villain, i have to say. i feel i'm pretty good at it. >> reporter: you've definitely got that evil smile going right now. >> off with her head! >> reporter: and rita, you're in a power couple with world-renowned director taika

waititi. >> i'm so inspired by him. to be in work space, i respect him. i respect his ideas and like his opinion and obviously in -- i'm a fan of his work. but we try and do as much as we can together that has nothing to do with work. i think it's really important to balance the two. but yeah, it's great to have him on board. >> reporter: in addition to the silver screen, rita, i feel most people know you as the pop star that you are. i mean, everybody knows "the black widow" collaborations. ♪ i'm gonna love you until you hate me ♪ >> reporter: everybody knows -- >> a ten-year anniversary just recently. >> reporter: really, ten years, that's crazy. >> that's. >> reporter: tell me about your new track, "and you shall receive." >> it's basically my own record. it is so uplifting ♪ and you shall receive ♪ >> reporter: that music video, it's frenetic.

how did you end up hanging out in a washing machine? >> there's thought behind the madness. for no one who's seen this, it was the same laud droe mat from "everything everywhere all at once." >> reporter: no way. >> i have to shoot in this laundromat. that's what life is about, not putting too much pressure on yourself, jumping in in a washing machine. >> you're adjourning to "the masks singer"? >> yes, yes. i've had so much fun. "the masked singer usa" is crazy. the concept in general is all these famous people coming to sing, you have to guess who they are. >> i think -- if this is who i think it is, it's really made my trip worthwhile. >> reporter: from the music to the silver screen to reality tv, one of the busiest women in show business. >> you think? >> reporter: yeah, for real. what's next for you? >> i'm trying to take over the world. just kidding. to me, putting music out to the public. i love connecting with people. and film is a really big priority for me. so you'll see more film andmore

music. >> reporter: thank you so much. "descendents: the rise of red" streaming on disney plus this friday. >> byron: our thanks to ashan. when we come back, why this november is destined to have a wicked "gladiator" weekend. detect this: living with hiv, craig learned he can stay undetectable with fewer medicines. that's why he switched to dovato. dovato is a complete hiv treatment for some adults. no other complete hiv pill uses fewer medicines to help keep you undetectable than dovato. detect this: leo learned that most hiv pills contain 3 or 4 medicines. dovato is as effective with just 2. if you have hepatitis b, don't stop dovato without talking to your doctor. don't take dovato if you're allergic to its ingredients or taking dofetilide. this can cause serious or life-threatening side effects.

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>> byron: finally tonight, is it barbenheimer 2.0? entering the arena this november, "gladiator 2," ridley scott's long-awaited sequel. the action picks up years after the original but grown-up lucius back in rome as a gladiator and reuniting with his mother, lucille. the film drops on november 22nd, the same day as "wicked." this two-fer weekend has all the signs of a big double dose of movie magic.

will it be glicked? or wiciator? >> don't let her get away this wicked wimp. >> byron: that's "nightline" for this evening. catch our full episodes on hulu. see you back here same time tomorrow. thanks for the company, america. good night.