Didn’t Brandon Lee kill himself with a blank round thinking it was safe ?
Brandon was killed in a scene where he was shot by “Funboy”. The prop gun had a a piece of a 44cal lodged in the barrel from weeks before. It was a complete failure or safety protocol.
Correct. A further excerpt from the aforementioned 10 YEAR OLD COMMENTARY.
Lest a gentle reader think this is some idle armchair critique of the Hollywood dream factory revisit the tragic death of Brandon Lee.
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Mr. Lee died when the propmaster of “The Crow” never cleared a “dummy projectile” from the barrel of a “blank gun” which was unused for over a week.
When said gun was loaded with a blank cartridge the projectile was propelled with sufficient force to kill Mr. Lee.
From Wikipedia:
Weeks prior to the event, a scene was being filmed that required dummy rounds to be shown loaded into the handgun. Inexperienced crew members, pressured by time constraints, purchased live ammunition, removed the bullets, dumped the gunpowder, and then replaced the bullets back into the empty cartridges with the live primers still in place.
When the time came to film the scene where Michael Massee shoots Lee’s character, the same gun was loaded with blank cartridges.
Unknown to the crew, the bullet from one of the dummy rounds had become lodged in the barrel of the gun.
It is believed that someone on set was playing with the gun, pulled the trigger, and inadvertently caused the live primer to fire; this would have resulted in the bullet moving a couple of inches into the barrel of the gun.
When the gun was operated, the propellant in the blank rounds — which is used to give the visible effect of a gunshot — dislodged the bullet, which penetrated Lee’s abdomen and lodged in his spine. The injury caused massive blood loss.
As the production company had sent the firearms specialist home early, responsibility for the guns was given to a prop assistant who was not aware of the rule for checking all firearms before and after any handling.
Therefore, the barrel was not checked for obstructions when it came time to load it with the blank rounds