Rory Kennedy’s Family Gave Her ‘Depth of Relatability’ to Direct Alec Baldwin Doc (Exclusive)

Rory Kennedy is sharing how her unique life experiences have informed her work in her latest documentary. 

The documentary filmmaker, who is one of Ethel Kennedy and Senator Robert F. Kennedy’s 11 children, spoke to PEOPLE at the DOC NYC Visionaries Tribute Luncheon on Nov. 12 in New York City about her film, The Trial of Alec Baldwin, ahead of its world premiere Nov. 13. 

Following the fatal accidental shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of Rust in 2021 — and the subsequent criminal charges filed against the film’s star Alec Baldwin — Kennedy reached out to Baldwin about the possibility of making a film about what he was going through.

“He was, I would say, resistant at first,” Kennedy recalls. “And I said, ‘Sit on it, think about it. If you’re interested, I would love to talk more.’ ”

Baldwin would later come around to the idea, but before they began, Kennedy presented a few conditions. She told the actor that in order to move forward, he would have to agree to give her complete editorial control and be OK with not getting any financial compensation for his participation. 

“We had a contract within a week and an understanding, and I was on the journey with him, and have been on it for the last three years,” she says. 

Kennedy, whose father and uncle, President John F. Kennedy, were both assassinated, says her family’s history provided her with an understanding of how tragedies can have a wide-spreading impact. 

“I felt like I did have a depth of relatability in terms of what the family had gone through, and I also felt like there would be space to explore,” she explains. “This event impacted everybody on that set and had a ripple effect on so many lives, and so I think it’s important to be able to explore that.”

Per Variety, Kennedy began filming just before the 2023 manslaughter charges against Baldwin were dropped, and was also there with him when he was indicted for a second time, in 2024. Those charges were also ultimately dismissed. 

Over the course of their time together, Kennedy was able to capture what she describes as a “very intimate portrait” of Baldwin, who she says shows new sides of himself in the film. 

“I think that he was extraordinarily brave and courageous just to allow us to document him during this very tumultuous time, and I think people will see something in him and sides to him that they’ve never seen before.”

“It’s a character portrait,” she adds. “But it’s also looking at what happens when social media and other chatter kind of trickles its way up into the justice system, and how that, in turn, can, I think, become injustice.” 

While the film centers around Baldwin, Kennedy says it also examines the tragedy “in the backdrop” of all that unfolded following the accident. 

“This is all in the backdrop of the horrendous tragedy and loss of Halyna, and I guess I feel that in the world that we live in today, there should be enough space to explore more than one tragedy that can occur in a situation like this,” she explains. “So I think this film is about that exploration.”

The Trial of Alec Baldwin premieres on Nov. 13 at the SVA Theatre in New York City as part of the DOC NYC festival running from Nov. 12–20.