‘Rust’ Producer Co-Financing Dustin Hoffman & Sissy Spacek Indie Movie ‘Sam & Kate’

In the wakeRustproducers being hit with two lawsuits stemming from the fatal shooting of that film’s DP Halyna Hutchins, VarietyThis morning, Ryan Donnell Smith, producer, reported that he is helping to finance a Dustin Hoffman-Sissy Spak movie calledSam & Kate.

Deadline reached out to youRust producer’s reps for comment. We will update this story if they return our calls.

Smith’s company Thomasville Pictures, which he co-owns with Allen Cheney, anotherRustProducer, will coback Sam & KateThe film is set to begin production in mid February in Thomasville GA. According to reports, Smith will be serving as the EP for the film but not in physical production.

Varietyreports that the producers had early conversations with the city’s film manager about production, but haven’t applied for a permit application yet.

Sam & Kateis also set to star Hoffman’s son, Jake Hoffman. They’ll play father and son in the film. Likewise, Spacek’s daughter, Schuyler Fisk, who will play daughter onscreen to her mother. Darren Le Gallo is the screenwriter. He will also direct. Amy Adams is his wife and an EP.

Meanwhile, the Santa Fe Sheriff’s Office and OSHA continue their investigation into the Rustfatality, which had Alec Baldwin discharge a prop gun that took Hutchins’ life and injured the pic’s director Joel Souza in the shoulder.

Rustgaffer Serge Svetnoy, and script supervisor Mamie Mitchell have instituted lawsuits against star/producer Baldwin, the low budget Western’s producers and production companies, armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed, first assistant director David Halls, property master Sarah Zachry and others.

Halls admitted to police not long after the shooting that he did not properly check the 1880s-era gun he handed to Baldwin before declaring it a “cold gun”. Gutierrez Reed, Mitchell, and others have reported at least two unintentional discharges of weapons prior to the Oct. 21 shooting. Both Halls, who was fired from a previous film over gun safety issues, and Gutierrez Reed have retained counsel.

The armorer’s lawyer has been postulating a “sabotage” theory in media appearances and press releases to explain the tragedy that took Hutchins’ life. That theory is based on a premise that the local D.A.. has vocally rejected for lack of evidence, hangs on the notion that something or someone took some sort of revenge. Gutierrez Reed’s attorneys have repeatedly pointed to the fact that just hours before the killing of Hutchins, several members of that camera crew resigned fromRust,citing safety and financial reasons.

The Rust Production itself hired Jenner Block law firm to conduct an investigation into the events that transpired. As Deadline reported, Hutchins’ ashes were interred last weekend at an undisclosed location.

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