Posted on 10/27/2021 5:46:32 PM PDT by DoodleBob
While acting on four seasons of FX’s “American Horror Story,” Leslie Grossman estimates she’s been called upon to shoot a gun “several times.”
“They’re never real guns,” she says. “Nine times out of 10, I’m using a rubber gun.” When the scene does call for a more dramatic close-up of a gun firing with a physical recoil, Grossman says she usually shoots an air gun instead, with effects added in post-production to enhance authenticity. On the most recent season, “American Horror Story: Double Feature,” Grossman recalls only using rubber guns, even while shooting them.
“I even said, ‘Wait, is this gonna look super fake?’ And they’re like, ‘Oh, we can fix anything later to make it look super real.’ And they did, and it looked really real,” she said.
The deadly shooting on the set of the independent film “Rust” that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and wounded director Joel Souza involved a real firearm fired by actor Alec Baldwin that contained live rounds rather thank blanks. In the tragedy’s aftermath, the industry is facing the question of whether real firearms should ever again be allowed on a set.
In response to the “Rust” tragedy, ABC’s cop drama “The Rookie” banned real firearms. Eric Kripke, showrunner of Amazon’s gritty superhero series “The Boys,” tweeted that he was taking “a simple, easy pledge: no more guns with blanks on any of my sets ever.”
A Change.org petition to ban real guns from movie and TV productions has nearly 70,000 signatures. California state senator Dave Cortese says he plans to introduce legislation to officially ban real firearms and live ammunition from all productions, and New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said her state would take similar action should the entertainment industry not adopt such a ban voluntarily.
Bandar Albuliwi, a filmmaker and author of the Change.org petition, is incredulous that the practice of using real firearms carries on, citing deaths of actor Brandon Lee on the set of the 1993 film “The Crow” and camerawoman Sarah Jones on the 2014 production of “Midnight Rider” (unrelated to firearms) as prior examples that should have made set safety a top priority across the industry.
“This shouldn’t have happened after Brandon Lee basically shot himself,” said Albuliwi. “Hollywood hasn’t changed in 30 years. We again thought we’d learned our lesson about better protocols with ‘Midnight Rider.’ That caused a little stir but dissipated. This speaks volumes about our industry because, in this event, this only got attention because it involved an A-list actor like Alec Baldwin.”
Cameron Kasky, a survivor of the 2018 Parkland mass shooting and gun control activist, agrees with Albuliwi. “All real guns should be banned from sets,” he says. “Fake guns look very real. If studios have even the slightest regard for workers, real guns would be completely out of the question.”
For decades, real firearms with blank ammunition have been used in film and TV productions because they visually recreate actual gunfire. But in discussions with industry insiders and visual effects experts, all of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity, many said that advances in visual effects technology mean banning real weapons would result in virtually no sacrifice to the look and feel of a finished piece of content.
“If in the background, there’s a dinosaur running around, you know, that’s where the money is,” said one longtime VFX artist. “A couple of ‘bang bang, smoky smoky’ things is a sneeze compared to almost anything else.”
Often times, there is minimal lifting required in post-production to make a fake gun look as if it has been discharged, experts said. A “muzzle flash,” or the appearance of smoke and light from the barrel of a gun, is easily created with software used by editors and digital intermediate houses.
“Doing just a muzzle flash, it’s nothing,” says the effects artist. “It’s minutes of work per shot — maybe a tiny glow, maybe a tiny bit of interactive light.”
More elaborate sequences involving gunfire, especially those that involve an actor flinching in reaction to an overpowering weapon, could necessitate more intensive visual effects work.
“It’s essentially performance modification, and that’s what would move it to the next level,” says the artist.
But even in these cases, this artist notes these are actions an actor “can absolutely mimic” in their performance.
Taking real firearms off a set would also remove potential lethal hazards caused by the kind of negligence that’s been alleged to have occurred on “Rust” — from union crews walking and the hiring of scabs, to improper protocols handling weaponry. Veterans in the production coordination space, basically those in charge of “Hollywood’s back office” as one put it, said that standard safety protocols often go overlooked, particularly on productions outside entertainment’s backyard in Los Angeles.
“West Coast unions require safety classes through CSATF,” said one top production coordinator, referring to the digital portal Contract Services, which provides training and other functions for film and TV shoots.
Through Contract Services, employees take state-mandated courses like sexual harassment education and, of course, safety training. These union-mandated program also issues daily safety bulletins with the production call sheet, briefing the entire production on the stunts and other hazards of the day.
“We’re supposed to check the status of each and every union crew member before they are hired,” says the coordinator. “This isn’t nationwide and people don’t often use it.”
These issues speak to a larger, more pernicious attitude involving on-set safety and wellbeing — and a culture of silence that has kept people from speaking up.
“There can be a vibe of, like, ‘Well, I’m assuming they know what they’re doing,'” says Grossman, who notes this isn’t the case on “American Horror Story,” where the safety team operates under strict guidelines even when she’s firing a prop gun. “But I’ve had other jobs where I feel like, if I speak up, I feel like they’re gonna think I’m a pain in the ass or roll their eyes at me because I’m an actor. On sets, there’s this general idea that ‘somebody’ — and I’m using quotes when I say ‘somebody’ — is in charge, and many times, nobody’s in charge.”
For Grossman, in that kind of chaotic environment, it makes no sense to have deadly weapons available of any kind, period.
“There is no reason for one second to put anyone in jeopardy to make a pretend story,” she says. “That’s ridiculous.”
How about anti-RKBA people are banned from using guns on movies and streaming and TV?
They certainly managed to shoot a few million people in the old Westerns without killing anyone. But here is something I’ve never seen in a movie: A handgun shot with real-world RECOIL!
BTW - I’m slowly watching the old series Hunter. I hate it when Hunter is clearing a house, with a COCKED DA revolver in his hand.
Hollywood made dozens and dozens of real westerns for over 50 years without this happening…. So the guns aren’t the problem
Just a minor correction, the first Western was The Great Train Robbery is a 1903 American silent Western film made by Edwin S. Porter for the Edison Manufacturing Company. That would be 118 years ago.
A special close-up shot, which was unconnected to the story and could either begin or end the film depending on the projectionist’s whim, showed Barnes, as the outlaw leader, emptying his gun directly into the camera.
What does Charles Bronson, Clint Eastwood, JohnWayne and Keanu Reeves have in common?
They fired more guns and killed less people than Alec Baldwin.
Exactly. 99% of guns used in Westerns over the decades are real firearms using blanks. There are very few non-firing replica guns available that could be used in an authentic Western or Civil War film. What about period pieces using flintlocks? No realistic non firing replicas I have ever seen.
Another problem is people like the assistant director on Rust that called "cold gun" before handing the revolver to Baldwin. He is quoted in the police report as telling the armorer (the 24 year-old) to "open the hatch and spin the drum" for him to see if was unloaded. If he knew anything at all about revolvers he would have said "open the loading latch and spin the cylinder." In reality, he should have done that himself.
Add me in with him because I’m not going to blame the actual shooting on the man who pulled the trigger either. I might blame him for a lot of the problems that could have led up to it. If I’m the armorer and I check, set up and declare a weapon safe to use in a scene me and the actor will be the only ones touching that weapon and that actor better not jack with the weapon or I’ll shut the scene down and recheck the weapon before we continue. If the actor so much as racks the slide, drops a magazine, opens a loading gate or hits the cylinder latch I’m shutting it down. As the armorer I’m the one held responsible for the operation and safety of that weapon.
The one held responsible for the actual shooting will be the Armorer or the AD. Baldwin may be held culpable for the overall safety of the set if decisions were made that increased the chance for accidents but not the shooting.
I suspect his statement to the police is untrue.
That was kind of my impression as well. I just assumed real guns were rarely used. But I admit to not knowing much about those things. I am simply a consumer of movies.
How about not doing target practice with the movie’s guns ...
True
I’m trying to envision “Gunfight at the OK Corral” with slingshots…….
I caught that, too. Also, spinning the cylinder is useless unless it’s done slow enough to see and confirm that each individual chamber is cleared.
“Real Guns Aren’t Needed on Film and TV Sets, Experts Say, Amid Calls for a Permanent Ban”
Prolly a good idea to make them all out of a lightweight plastic so they don’t further damage their already limp wrists.
It’s California. Next they’ll prohibit anyone in the film from making a gun with their fingers and saying “bang” or nibbling a piece of bread into a gun shape.
Just imagine the “Magnificent Seven” with finger pistols.
No matter who it is, I’d never trust anyone else to hand me a gun and tell me it’s “safe”.
Lets let all liberals run around with a rubber gun and shout “Pew Pew”.
I understand and under normal situations I’m right there with you. This isn’t a normal situation, it’s a movie set where nothing is normal. So I go back to my original thoughts on this. As the armorer, if I hand you a gun I have declared safe and you jack with it, I can no longer declare it safe and we end shooting until I can declare it safe.
Imagine if a scene called for a round of Russian Roulette? Do they just take the word of the prop person or whoever and pull the trigger? They are idiots if the do.
I was trained as an armorer at a factory on sever different platforms. One could assemble a pistol on the bench, right in front of an instructor, hand it to him, and he goes through the procedure of making it safe. Redundant. Every time it changed hands, and it didn’t matter what you had just done, same thing. Sit the pistol down....it’s “loaded”, repeat the procedure. This was done each and every single time.
There are no exceptions to the rules. But the Hollywood mentality is driven by a belief they are allowed exceptions to everything. In this case, the exception got someone killed.
Reminds me of that scene from “The Deer Hunter”.
That said - boy. The realism of the acting would sure be top notch.
“Okay boys, we’re going to do the Russian Roulette scene. To make it realistic - the gun has been loaded with ONE real round.”
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“ACTION!!”
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