Alec Baldwin’s ‘97 Minutes’ Writer-Producer on Working With the Actor After ‘Rust’: ‘We Were Validated by Sticking by Him’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Naman Ramachandran
·3 min read
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Pavan Grover, a writer and producer on the recent action thriller “97 Minutes” starring Alec Baldwin, has spoken out about standing firm with the star in the aftermath of “Rust.”

Grover, a Houston-based spinal surgeon with a passion for cinema, debuted as a writer in 2002 with “Unspeakable” starring Dennis Hopper, and served as a producer on “Odd Thomas” (2013), based on Dean Koontz’s novel and directed by Stephen Sommers (“The Mummy”).

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Grover pitched the idea of “97 Minutes” — a ticking-clock thriller in which a hijacked airplane has 97 minutes before it runs out of fuel — when he met Baldwin serendipitously at Sundance in early 2021. Once Baldwin was attached, the project raised coin via presales, distribution and American and international debt financing, based on the actor’s value in those markets.

Then, in October 2021, the “Rust” shooting happened. Baldwin was accused of negligently pulling the trigger on a prop gun, causing the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injuring director Joel Souza.

“There’s sometimes a reflex that happens in Hollywood — at the first sign of trouble, they drop people,” Grover told Variety. “A lot of it was convincing the distributors that that even though it’s crisis now, he’s still the best suited for this role.”

The film was eventually shot in London, where the production was trailed by paparazzi and there were some minor scuffles. “Whenever you have a trauma, the key is to get back into a normal routine. And so for him, having gone through that, connecting with his art, acting, and then this escape into this area was I think very good for him,” Grover said of Baldwin.

“He had a really good relationship with the cast and the crew, they all rallied behind him. And it was an amazing shoot, as tough as it was,” Grover added. “It’s like going to war, and you develop this bond with your fellow filmmakers and with the cast and the crew. And so, zero regret fighting through all that. And when you see the film, he’s fantastic — back to his old glory, back to ‘The Hunt for Red October,’ that kind of genre. So I think we were validated by sticking by him.”

Though Grover describes the “Rust” shooting as a “tremendous tragedy” and “tremendous accident,” he is glad they continued with the project. “At the end, it’s just not abandoning people at their worst situation, which is sometimes a reflex action people do,” Grover said of his decision to stand by Baldwin.

Manslaughter charges against Baldwin were dropped in April. New Mexico prosecutors say they will file new charges against Baldwin if further testing shows that his gun was working at the time of the “Rust” shooting.

“97 Minutes,” which also stars Jonathan Rhys Meyers (“Vikings”), was inspired from a landmark neurocinematic study which used functional MRI scans to measure the effect of Hitchcock’s films , particularly “Psycho,” on cognitive brain function. It is directed by Timo Vuorensola (“Iron Sky”) and produced by Grover and Jamie R. Thompson for Lighthouse Pictures and Jake Seal for Black Hangar Studios.

The film released theatrically in the U.S., followed by digital formats, in June. 101 Films is releasing the film in the U.K. across digital platforms on July 10. It is due to premiere in September on Hulu.

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