Posted on 10/27/2021 3:03:53 PM PDT by A Cyrenian
If I hand you a loaded revolver... you scan the cylinder and see 6 rounds — the backs of 6 rounds. Can you tell me if they are blanks or complete rounds? Thing is you probably cannot do it without unloading the cylinders followed by re-loading. I’m beginning to realize how dependent the actors were on the armorer and prop handlers.
Well said and it’s worth pointing out that a gun, any gun, is hardly any different from any other powerful machine. An actor wouldn’t get to plead stupid if the role required driving a bulldozer and he ran over the boss’s car in the parking lot? Trucks? Ships? Saws?or any of the hundreds of other powerful machines I’v personally operated. You never get to say, after smashing something, “ I didn’t know it was loaded.”
The armorer had a crush on Alec and wanted to get the cuter cinematographer out of the way. Just a theory.
A testament to the ergonomics of the AK-47.
Baldwin also happens to be the executive producer for RUST -— and preferred non-union employees, so.....
But he wasn’t just an actor in RUST.
He’s the executive producer, too.
A. Baldwin is the Executive Director, and so is ultimately responsible for the clearly slipshod protocols on set.
B. If this was an actual take, having personnel anywhere near the line of fire is unnecessary and unsafe. But since this was a rehearsal, it moves into the moronic column. https://news.yahoo.com/search-warrant-reveals-grim-details-052133183.html
Baldwin ran a slipshod set and violated the most basic principle of gun safety, leading to a fatal shooting. PERIOD.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/24/arts/baldwin-shooting-details.html
If he was just fooling around, then I would agree he's probably guilty of negligent homicide. But I very much doubt that was the case. Having a crew and director and actors on-set is incredibly expensive, so I doubt they were just playing around.
"Fooling around," "playing around," "rehearsing," "practicing," they're all the same words for Baldwin not aware of his surroundings and not following any proper procedures, regardless of who handed him the gun and what they said about it.
It was a gun, it was placed in his hand, and it was his responsibility to know what state it was in first-hand, and then to take proper precautions while it was in his possession.
Was Baldwin aware that the crew was using the gun during off-hours to shoot it in the desert? He was the producer of the movie, were they lying to him about how the gun was contained when filming was done for the day? Did he know what they were doing and condoned it? Did he know what they were doing and ordered them to stop it? Did he know what they were doing and partook in it himself?
Did the lax attitude towards the guns during the off-time carry over during working hours?
It's not so easy to dismiss Baldwin's culpability simply because the gun was "supposed" to be empty.
-PJ
It's not the actor's fault. And in many cases where a weapon is carefully prepared for filming I can see why they would be forbidden from checking it.
If he was handed the weapon and told it was 'cold' his experience would be not to examine the weapon. It's like an airborne soldier: a rigger packs the chute, and you hope he's done it right.
That may have been Baldwin's experience (I don't know for sure, and I don't think you do, either). But I don't think one can make a general statement about ALL actors being that cavalier about handling guns on sets. And this wasn't Baldwin's first movie with guns, either.
The industry does have a set of procedures for handling weapons on a set, and I'd expect all actors who handle weapons to have been given training on that before going to the set for filming, during the period when they are learning lines, fitting for costumes, learning the choreography for fight scenes, making script edits, etc.
I don't see much difference between this and a case where an actor is given what is supposed to be a knife with a retracting blade and is instead given a real one and stabs another actor in rehearsal.
Really? You don't think an actor can tell the difference between a fake retracting blade and a real one? A knife is not a complicated instrument. Is that like an actor portraying a doctor expecting a fake syringe with a retracting needle, only to be given a real one and injecting someone with air? It's a ridiculous notion. A knife is not a gun. A knife won't kill someone 10 feet away. A knife doesn't have concealed explosives in it.
in many cases where a weapon is carefully prepared for filming I can see why they would be forbidden from checking it.
Tell me more. I'd like to hear more about what actors are "forbidden" to do. Especially the actor who is the producer. Did he forbid himself?
It's like an airborne soldier: a rigger packs the chute, and you hope he's done it right.
In that case, it's only the jumper who is at risk. No cinematographers were harmed in the jump.
-PJ
“...the Talent...”
THAT term always cracks me up ever since I heard it while assigned to be a witness for a product action commercial shoot “on location” in SW Mont. where the rest of America didn’t want to go.
“But I very much doubt that was the case.”
AB is an Ahole.
Screwing around is nearly his whole portfolio.
Though the 4 rules of gun control may not be The Law, they are a Very Good Idea and likely should be.
AB is 100% responsible.
Others may have liability in addition to that of “The Talent”.
He has made many movies using a gun. Simple procedures. They were violated.
AB may very be an a-hole, but whether or not he is responsible for this in the manner you suggest is an open question. He may very well have civil liability as a producer for not having hired competent staff and for allowing production to continue even after earlier gun safety incidents.
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