Thomasville filmmakers among producers for film “Rust,” rocked by fatal shooting

THOMASVILLE, Ga. (WCTV) - Allen Cheney, a Thomasville native and filmmaker who named his production company after his hometown, is an executive producer on “Rust,” according to a report by the Los Angeles Times.

Cheney’s business partner at the production company Thomasville Pictures, Ryan Smith, is one of the producers for “Rust,” according to the Times report. Last week, production of the film was halted indefinitely after actor Alec Baldwin accidentally shot the film’s cinematographer and director during a rehearsal, killing the cinematographer and wounding the director.

The website for Thomasville Pictures features “Rust” on its list of current projects

“The pic, originally set up in May 2020, now moves forward with a planned October start of principal photography in New Mexico,” according to the website.

In a statement to the LA Times, Cheney defended the credentials of the producers of “Rust.”

“The six credited producers on the independent film ‘Rust,’ Ryan Smith, Alec Baldwin, Nathan Klingher, Ryan Winterstern, Matt DelPiano and Anjul Nigam, collectively have more than 35 years’ experience producing small to mid-level film and television projects,” Cheney said.

‘Rust’ is a union-certified production, in good standing with all of the major production unions and guilds, including IATSE, the Teamsters, SAG, and DGA.”

Cheney also said, as an executive producer, he had no involvement with the “physical and day to day production.”

Several of Cheney and Smith’s movies have been shot in South Georgia, including One Way which WCTV reported on when it was filming in Thomasville in February. The film stars Machine Gun Kelly, Kevin Bacon and Storm Reid, and is scheduled to premiere sometime in 2022.

Another shoot in May in downtown Thomasville was for a movie featuring Mel Gibson and Josh Duhamel.