Alec Baldwin claims he “didn’t pull the trigger” of the gun that fatally wounded cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of his film, Rust.

The star said in her first interview since the October incident.

“I would never point a gun at anyone and pull the trigger on them. Never,” he told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos.

The interview was taped on Tuesday and is expected to air in the US on Thursday night.

Stephanopoulos described their 80-minute discussion as “raw” and “intense.

The reporter described Mr. Baldwin, 63, as “devastated” but “very blunt” and “imminent”, while previewing the interview on Wednesday’s Good Morning America.

“I’ve done thousands of interviews over the past 20 years on ABC,” he said. “This was the most intense I’ve ever experienced.”

Baldwin is best known for his performances in films such as Glengarry Glen Ross and The Hunt For Red October, as well as his imitation of Donald Trump on the US sketch show Saturday Night Live.

The interview marks the first time Baldwin has spoken about the incident on camera, with the exception of a brief interview with TMZ in October, in an attempt to stop paparazzi from following him and his family.

In that appearance, he described the incident as “one episode in a trillion” and said that incidents of this nature have very rarely happened on movie sets.

Ms. Hutchins was shot and killed while Baldwin tried what he believed to be a “cold” – or safe – gun on the set of Rust in New Mexico.

He is believed to have discharged when he removed it from a holster during rehearsal for an upcoming scene.

Ms. Hutchins was flown to the hospital by helicopter after the shooting, but later died of her injuries. Director Joel Souza, 48, was also injured.

According to court records, Baldwin received the weapon from the film’s assistant director Dave Halls, who did not know it contained live ammunition and indicated that it had been discharged by shouting “cold gun”.

Mr. Halls had received the pistol from Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the 24-year-old gunsmith in the film.

Asked by Mr. Stephanopoulos how a live bullet had made its way onto the set, Mr. Baldwin replied, “I have no idea.

“Someone put a live bullet in a gun. A bullet that didn’t even have to be on the property.”

Ms Gutierrez-Reed’s lawyers said she did not know where “the live bullets came from”. That question is now the focus of a police investigation in the United States.

Earlier this week, investigators obtained a warrant to search the premises of a US weapons supplier.

An affidavit with the warrant stated that police had been told that the ammunition for the film came from several sources, including PDQ Arm & Prop.

The affidavit claimed that the owner of the ammunition supplier, Seth Kenney, had told investigators that the bullet may have come from some “reloaded ammunition”.

He said the ammunition he provided for the film consisted of bullets and blank cartridges, according to the affidavit.

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