In a season of unusual headlines, another one showed up this week. After actor Alec Baldwin was charged with involuntary manslaughter in the shooting death of Halyna Hutchins, I had assumed that he would be busy preparing his defense. But according to the New York Post, he’s going to be busy with something else. Baldwin reportedly plans to resume filming of his movie “Rust,” which was placed on hold after the shooting incident. No date was given for when production will resume, but the film company behind the effort confirmed that they would be moving forward. The first question that came to my mind upon hearing this news seemed rather obvious. Isn’t this sort of insulting?

“Rust” will resume production this spring after filming was paused when cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was fatally shot by a prop gun fired by Alec Baldwin in October 2021.

The producers, Rust Movie Products, confirmed the news and announced there will be a mix of new and old crew members, including a new cinematographer as Bianca Cline (“Marcel the Shell With Shoes On”).

Original crew members returning to set include director Joel Souza — who was shot and wounded in the incident — stunt coordinator Allan Graf, costume designer Terese Davis, makeup department head Stacy Lockhart and hair department head Anna Williams.

The director of the film, Joel Souza, is still attached to the project and will be returning. That’s at least a little surprising, at least to me, because Baldwin also shot him. Rather than treating this as something disrespectful to his slain colleague, Souza appears to be making it all about her. He said he is “committed to completing what Halyna and I started.”

“Though bittersweet, I am grateful that a brilliant and dedicated new production team joining former cast and crew are committed to completing what Halyna and I started,” Souza said in a statement. “My every effort on this film will be devoted to honoring Halyna’s legacy and making her proud. It is a privilege to see this through on her behalf.”

It’s not just Souza who is returning to work with the guy who shot him. Halyna Hutchins’ widower will be an executive producer on the project. The scene Baldwin was rehearsing for when he gunned her down is reportedly being “rewritten.”

I probably wouldn’t have bothered writing an update to this story if this development wasn’t so incredibly bizarre. Maybe you have to live inside the glass bubble of Hollywood to understand how these people think and the decisions that they make. I simply can’t grasp how anyone involved in this entire ordeal thought this was a good idea.

Halyna Hutchins is dead. The man who shot her is awaiting trial, along with armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed. Baldwin has repeatedly denied having any responsibility for her death and continues to claim that he never pulled the trigger, despite the fact that a forensic examination of the revolver concluded that it could not have been fired without the trigger being pulled. But now everyone is just getting the old gang back together and moving on as if nothing happened?

The main personalities involved with all of this claim that they are completing the project “to honor Halyna’s memory.” They’ve got a funny way of showing it. If I’d had any sort of stake in this production, I would consider it totally jinxed and simply walk away. And I definitely wouldn’t put a gun in Alec Baldwin’s hand again, even if it were a water pistol.