Posted on 10/27/2021 12:27:12 AM PDT by grundle
Crew members had gone ”plinking“ and returned the gun to the set, an insider tells TheWrap
The gun that killed “Rust” cinematographer Halyna Hutchins last Thursday was used by crew members that morning for live-ammunition target practice, an individual with knowledge of the set told TheWrap.
A number of crew members had taken prop guns from the New Mexico set of the indie Western — including the gun that killed Hutchins — to go “plinking,” a hobby in which people shoot at beer cans with live ammunition to pass the time, the insider said.
The shooting happened just a few hours later, when lead actor and producer Alec Baldwin discharged a revolver after first assistant director David Halls confirmed that it was a “cold gun,” meaning that the gun did not have any live ammunition in it.
Search warrants issued over the weekend by New Mexico authorities said that Halls had grabbed one of three prop guns set up by armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed and yelled “cold gun” as he handed it to lead actor Alec Baldwin, indicating that the gun did not have any live rounds.
Baldwin, who was rehearsing a scene for the film, was “pointing the revolver towards the camera lens” when it hit director Joel Souza and Hutchins, according to the search warrant made public on Sunday. Hutchins grabbed her midsection and then stumbled backwards as she was assisted to the ground, Souza told authorities. Souza, who was also injured when the gun discharged, was released from a local hospital that night.
Asked for comment, the producers of “Rust” referred to a previous statement: “The safety of our cast and crew is the top priority of Rust Productions and everyone associated with the company. Though we were not made aware of any official complaints concerning weapon or prop safety on set, we will be conducting an internal review of our procedures while production is shut down. We will continue to cooperate with the Santa Fe authorities in their investigation and offer mental health services to the cast and crew during this tragic time.”
The details of the tragic shooting death of the 42-year-old cinematographer seemed only to get more disturbing on Monday as eyewitness accounts have raced through the Hollywood guilds and tight-knit indie community.
The new warrants confirmed that several members of the film’s camera crew had walked off the set earlier that day after complaining about housing, payment and working conditions — forcing producers to scramble to find a new crew.
According to the insider, a walkout by crew members from the below-the-line IATSE union would ordinarily trigger a shutdown of the entire production for 24-48 hours. Instead producers chose to hire non-union replacements to continue the shoot.
Reid Russel, whom the warrant identifies as a cameraman who was standing next to Hutchins and Souza as the gun discharged, said that the crew wrote a letter to the production over the disagreements and that after stepping out for five minutes after returning from lunch, the team was already in possession of the firearm preparing for the scene. He was unsure if it had been checked again in that time.
The police investigation is ongoing.
My comment was in reference to a couple of articles on line about how a live round could end up in a stage prop ... crew alleged to have borrowed it for plinking and then returned it.
Alec Baldwin wanted to try some target shooting himself and after killing one person and wounding another he was heard to say: “How’d I do? Pretty good shooting hitting 2 people with one shot”
Yup
I don’t limit to cans or bottles but do make it a point not to shoot people.
I try to shoot the least expensive ammo but these days $$$
Gotcha’ I was just saying in My opinion on the sizes.
Do we know there’s a $6-million policy? That won’t be enough. The civil judgments I’ve looked up from recent years of movie set deaths, even for stuntmen, are about $10 million or higher in damages. Or in settlements made out of court.
Personal liability is definitely on the table. Individual directors and producers have been named in these lawsuits. Spielberg was named in the Twilight Zone lawsuit. Director Alex Proyas was named in The Crow lawsuit. The director and producers of Midnight Rider were named in that lawsuit. People aren’t even talking about the director’s liability here, but in these other prominent cases, the director seems to often be considered the most guilty party.
Midnight Rider is the worst case scenario for the film crew in terms of legal problems. That was jail for the director, probation keeping him and others from working in the industry, multi-million dollar judgments divided up among the higher-ups and crew.
The Crow is the best case scenario. No criminal charges whatsoever. Just the lawsuit from the family settled out of court.
I’ve found nothing published out there related to whether insurance covered these fines or not.
New Mexico, not CA.
no wonder Alex Baldwin is for gun control. he is projecting his own incompetence in the area of gun safety onto everyone around him. I would be scared if I figured everyone took gun safety as seriously as he takes gun safety
I read 6 million dollar on insurance. Take it for what it is worth considering it was a news article. You are right, 6 million is low considering the other gun accidents on the site without changes to procedures.
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