Posted on 10/22/2021 12:37:12 PM PDT by Red Badger
Alec Baldwin shot and killed Halyna Hutchins in an apparent misfire of a prop gun. Why Baldwin, a freak about gun control, is in a movie that involves guns is beyond my comprehension. Does he not have enough money?
But this is not about him. This post is about Halyna Hutchins because the victim matters more than the idiot who killed her.
Born in Ukraine when it was a Soviet state 42 years ago, Hutchins grew up in the Arctic and had little to do except watch movies. She was 12 when the Soviet Union collapsed and Ukraine gained independence. She trained as a journalist.
Metro reported, "Hutchins was born in the Ukraine and grew up on a Soviet military base in the Arctic Circle before attending Kyiv National University.
"After graduating with a degree in international journalism, she worked as an investigative journalist for British documentaries in Eastern Europe.
"However, Hutchins’ true passion lay in filmmaking, and she moved to Los Angeles, where she got work as a production assistant and a grip electrician.
"She also shot her own short films, inspired by cinematographers including Christopher Doyle and Sergey Urusevskiy.
"On the advice of cinematographer Robert Primes, Hutchins enrolled the filmmaking MFA program at the American Film Institute Conservatory in 2013 and graduated two years later."
She was a rising star.
Variety reported, "Hutchins graduated from the American Film Institute in 2015, and had worked on several short films before shooting 'Archenemy,' a 2020 feature starring Joe Manganiello. She was named a rising star by American Cinematographer in 2019."
Michael Pessah, her friend and fellow cinematographer, told Variety, "She’s a wonderful, positive, creative person that was so excited to be breaking through and making movies. She was really on the upswing."
She also was a wife and mother. She left behind husband Matthew, a lawyer, and their 8-year-old son, Andros.
The Daily Mail reported, "Remembered by friends as a 'kind' and 'loving soul', Halyna lived in Venice Beach, California, with husband Matthew and their son Andros, known affectionately as her 'little man' and thought to be around nine years old.
"'Halyna loved him so much and enjoyed watching him grow into the handsome boy he is today,' one friend wrote in a moving Instagram tribute. 'I know she is looking after him and Matt in this horribly scary time.'
"Social media photos capture a playfulness and sense of adventure, with Halloween costume parties, road trips with friends and days out exploring all lit up by Halyna's smile.
"She was also highly regarded by her peers and had been tipped as a 'rising star' by other cinematographers. 'She was somebody who was absolutely dedicated to art and integrity,' director, colleague and friend Adam Mortimer told Good Morning Britain this morning. 'I can tell already she was going to be a genius.'"
Manganiello, who starred in and worked with her on "Archenemy," issued a statement on Instagram.
He said, "I was so lucky to have had Halyna Hutchins as my DP on 'Archenemy.' She was an absolutely incredible talent and a great person. She had such an eye and a visual style, she was the kind of cinematographer that you wanted to see succeed because you wanted to see what she could pull off next. She was a fantastic person. There was no amount of pressure she couldn’t handle. She was a great collaborator and an ally to anyone in front of her camera. Everyone who knew her was rooting for her."
We lost a good person who was just reaching her prime. That saddens me. Hollywood has been working with prop guns for more than a century. This is inexcusable.
Posted by Don Surber at 10/22/2021 12:05:00 PM
There was a perfect NRA Gun Safety course that could have helped.
I’m sure I am not telling you something you do not already know,
but you NEVER ever point a fire arm at another person. That is basic fire arm safety, to not aim at a human being ever, not even with an empty gun that you just checked.
Cocking the hammer is not a good idea unless you intend to shoot. Trigger pressure (on a double action revolver) is way less with the hammer cocked.
Rumor has it her lawyer husband works for a firm representing Sussman. Can anyone confirm?
Saw a set of onset rules for prop guns- and they include using only cleared non ammunition in them- not sure about the block- but even guns that are disabled for firing real ammunition can still kill if something is lodged i n the barrel- the force of the explosion of the prop ammo is enough to send whatever is in barrel out at extreme speed-
Nope.
Apparently it wasn’t a prop.
However, a reasonable expectation of any actor on set is that the firearm is completely safe. That means that if it is a fully functional weapon that it is completely empty and whenever handed over to the actor, slide, etc. is open. Heck, I would even go as far as to demand that a firearm on set be completely nonfunctional because your run of the mill actor will not know how to handle a firearm.
You can try to argue that my son was irresponsible in his handling of his air-soft ak-47 rifle. Heck he was shooting his friends with it. Them too with their own air-soft rifles. BTW, they all had eye protection and yes, it still hurts when you get hit by an air-soft bb. But beyond that, no one was hurt, no one died.
Heck, someone in the neighborhood called the police because the group of boys looked threatening with their “realistic looking guns” when they were walking home from the park.
Let me add to the above statement... if it were a >>real<< ak-47 then yes, there would be some explaining to do. And yes, someone may have been injured or died.
But is not a >>real<< ak-47.
Yeah airsofts can certainl6,sting, but they have regulations on how,fast they can fire for safety reasons. UT airsofts are made for “war games”, so I don’t think it can be argued they were being irresponsible. They were using tools designed for what they were doing. Prop gu s however still fire the same velocities as real guns. Prop guns are usually real guns that fire blanks and or real ammo.
A prop gun should be exactly that and nothing more. If it is a fully functional gun that is shooting blanks, then it better have been completely disabled by a gun smith. Or modified so that it can’t fire a projectile. Maybe a plug although that is probably not safe either. BTW, I am not a gun smith.
And I agree with you, blanks are just as dangerous. But then again, blanks are designed to be fired out of a functional gun.
“However, a reasonable expectation of any actor on set is that the firearm is completely safe.”
The expectation is that Guns are dangerous and should be handled safely.
BTW, it is a good thing that he doesn’t own firearms. He is stupid and might hurt someone. But this situation doesn’t fall into that category.
“And I agree with you, blanks are just as dangerous.”
Really!
They shoukd be, but they arent. I posted what appears 5o,be onset rules for propguns in the following post
https://freerepublic.com/focus/chat/4006016/posts?page=73#73
You can see how serioiusky,seriously, are supposed to take safety. Unfortunately Alec and crew did not follow basic safety rules. There are also procedures for “firing” whe the scene Calls for firing “at” the camera or someone. They are never supposed to point directly at the person. The angle is supposed to look like it is, but it isn’t. Alec
Pointed directly at the camera woman and fella behind her
Agreed. But I don’t blame Baldwin. I blame the set director, etc. Whomever is in charge.
And my son, who had never shot a firearm at the time, was shooting his “AK-47” at his friends. Good thing that it wasn’t a real AK-47 but we knew that. Or assumed that it wasn’t real when we bought it for him for Christmas. Actually, I knew and no it was not capable of firing the standard AK cartridge.
See my last post. Alec pointed the gun at the camerawoman. A huge no no.
“Firearm safety” would dictate that you would never point a loaded firearm at someone whom >you didn’t intend to hurt.<
Heck, I wouldn’t even point a firearm at someone “just playing around.”
But I bet that “firearms” are pointed a people all the time on a movie set. That is part of the show.
“Agreed. But I don’t blame Baldwin. I blame the set director, etc. Whomever is in charge.”
Alec Baldwin was in charge.
Not only did he not have a safe movie set, he personally violated movie set weapons protocols.
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