Alec Baldwin 'to make acting comeback in 2 Italian movies'

Alec Baldwin is set to make his movie comeback in two Italian Christmas comedies, five months after the tragic death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of 'Rust'.

The 63-year-old star and his brother William Baldwin are said to be heading to Italy to film live-action animation-comedies 'Kid Santa' and 'Billie’s Magic World'.

According to Deadline, the Baldwins will appear in the live-action segments of the two movies.

Alec will join forces with filmmaker Francesco Cinquemani, who directed him in 2015 sci-fi film 'Andron'.

Earlier this month, Alec insisted he is not "culpable" for Halyna's death.

He has filed an arbitration demand claiming his contract protects him from financial responsibility in the death of the cinematographer, who was killed when a gun went off on the set of movie 'Rust' last October, and in the paperwork he stressed that the events leading up to the tragedy had nothing to do with him.

Court documents state: "This is a rare instance when the system broke down, and someone should be held legally culpable for the tragic consequences. That person is not Alec Baldwin."

Alec - who is among the defendants in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Halyna's family - insisted he wasn't "reckless" on the set, having previously denied pulling the trigger on the gun, and blamed armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, and assistant director Dave Halls for telling him the weapon didn't have live rounds, and also mentioned Seth Kenney, who had supplied the ammunition for the movie.

The arbitration demand sent to producers stated: "Immediately before the handoff to Baldwin, upon information and belief, Halls had taken the gun off a prop 2 cart after it had been loaded by the set’s armorer, Hannah Gutierrez Reed, the person responsible for gun safety and managing the operation of firearm-related props on the set.

"Reed claims to have personally checked all of the rounds to ensure that they weren’t 'hot' and then loaded them into the pistol. Halls 'later told an investigator that, after [Reed] opened the gun for him to inspect, he did not check all of the rounds as he should have before he handed it to ... Baldwin...

"At this point, two things are clear: someone is culpable for chambering the live round that led to this horrific tragedy, and it is someone other than Baldwin.

"Baldwin is an actor. He didn’t announce that the gun was 'cold' when it really contained a live round; he didn’t load the gun; he didn’t check the bullets in the gun; he didn’t purchase the bullets; he didn’t make the bullets and represent that they were dummies; he wasn’t in charge of firearm safety on the set; he didn’t hire the people who supplied the bullets or checked the gun; and he played no role in managing the movie’s props. Each of those jobs was performed by someone else."

Alec dismissed reports he had refused weapons training on the set, and said he returned $100,000 of his $250,000 fee for the movie, but had wanted to complete the film to honour Halyna and also took it upon himself to "provide [the Hutchins family] redress for their loss".