Posted on 10/22/2021 8:13:01 AM PDT by marcusmaximus
Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed on the New Mexico set of the Alec Baldwin film “Rust” after she was shot by a prop gun fired by the film’s star and producer, Alec Baldwin. IATSE Local 44, which covers prop masters, sent an email to its members early Friday morning that said the gun used in the scene contained “a live round” and the production’s propmaster was not a member of Local 44. Director Joel Souza also was hit and injured by a bullet and was treated at an area hospital before being released.
-snip-
In the email that IATSE Local 44 sent to its membership, Secretary-Treasurer Anthony Pawluc described the event as an “an accidental weapons discharge” in which “A live single round was accidentally fired on set by the principal actor, hitting both the Director of Photography, Local 600 member Halnya Hutchins, and Director Joel Souza … Local 44 has confirmed that the Props, Set Decoration, Special Effects and Construction Departments were staffed by New Mexico crew members. There were no Local 44 members on the call sheet.”
(Excerpt) Read more at indiewire.com ...
Wow. I wonder if THIS will finally be his ‘Come To Jesus’ moment?
Kinda doubt it. I’d like to see him in prison for a while, either way.
If someone hands you a gun it is your responsibility to check it.
Even if you watch them empty the chamber, you do it again yourself. Of course you couldn’t expect an anti-gun kook to know gun safety
From elsewhere in this thread:
On movie sets a safety officer is required to show the gun to the actor and then show that it is unloaded and both have to agree it is unloaded.
Even in a gun shop if I'll look at a gun I check to clear it, out of habit mostly. And you can bet those guys in the shop check every gun that comes in.
Just doing it shows you know how to handle a firearm.
I can't think of a situation where I would pick up or be handed a gun and assume it wasn't loaded.
IMDB plot summary:
A 13 year-old boy, left to fend for himself and his younger brother following the death of their parents in 1880’s Kansas, goes on the run with his long estranged grandfather after he’s sentenced to hang for the accidental killing of a local rancher.
Love the Union Chapter Local .44. Does it stand for Russian, Special, or Magnum?
Sounds like the responsibility of the prop master to SHOW the actor.
I can't think of a situation where I would pick up or be handed a gun and assume it wasn't loaded.
Neither you nor I have been on a movie set.
I dislike Baldwin but I'm not going to find him at fault before all the facts are known and simply because he's a jerk on steroids.
I’ve listened carefuly to some interviews with movie set armorers and propmasters since this event. What I’ve heard is:
1. A blank round contains only a primer and about 1/10 to 1/4 of a regular charge. No wadding was mentioned. (I don’t know how they keep the power in place, but that’s the detailed description I heard. The reporter didn’t know to ask what was an obvious question about the load.)
2. The propmaster or armorer examines the weapon, checking the chamber and “barrel” (I’d assume magazine, too,) before giving it to the actor.
Having cleared many weapons after shooting at the range, typically I won’t look all the way down the barrel, since that usually involves putting one’s face to the business end of the gun. Checking the chamber and receiver is about all I do.
Having read about a lot of KBs, I wonder if there was something unexpected in the barrel, maybe even a bullet from a prior squib load.
Just one of the maneny possibilities that might come up, even if protocol was followed.
I was talking legally.
Well, yes, but the protocol requires both to agree the gun is unload. That brings some responsibility to the actor.
If the custom is for the actor to be cavalier or nonchalant about the examination and affirmation, this would certainly be a caution to take that responsibility seriously.
Actors act and they trust the “experts” to do their jobs.
Well, if the protocol involved the actor to affirm the gun was clear, and the actor did not do that, then there exists liability.
I'd imagine that the example of a famous actor getting sued, and even jailed, might concentrate even the occasional actor's mind wonderfully.
I believe that’s what happened to Brandon Lee. A squib from a “dummy” round loaded with a bullet and primer but no powder ended up in the barrel somehow, and Lee was shot when a .44 Magnum blank was fired behind it.
What I never understood is: (1) why was a hammer dropped on the “dummy”; (2) why didn’t anyone investigate when the “dummy” round went “pop”; and (3) when they ejected the spent case of the “dummy,” didn’t anyone wonder where the bullet went?
We have no idea who was negligent, Baldwin or prop master. We don't have all the facts.....yet.
**We have no idea who was negligent, Baldwin or prop master. **
________________________________________
According to someone with 45 years of set experience, they both are:
https://mobile.twitter.com/RobertJohnDavi/status/1451499551584669698
Well, of course, and in the example of the squib round I mentioned earlier, neither the actor or propmaster would be at fault if that protocol was followed. That type of situation, though, might result in a change to the protocol, for example - require the propmaster to check the barrel with a rod.
(As a Civil War reenactor, we were required to “spring” the barrels of our muskets in the presence of a unit officer or noncom before any battle reenactments - bounce the ramrod off the bottom of the barrel - in order to verify the musket contained no bullet. We also had many other strict safety protocols when conducting a reenacting battle, and were monitored to verify compliance. )
This had nothing to do with God, it had to do with Baldwin ALWAYS being an arrogant idiot and it has finally caught up to him!!
Everything has to do with God. EVERYTHING. Nothing happens outside His will.
Neat article, learned a lot from it.
Do you know that for a fact?
Unions don't have to threaten a strike to get their way. Sometimes they just have the support of local bureaucrats.
A guy I know got the contract to do the wiring in a building being built in a union town. Everything went great until time to have the local inspectors sign off. The inspectors made it clear that they wouldn't sign off until the local unions approved. The guy lost his shirt on that job and never again bid on a contract in that town.
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