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.”
One of my first handgun lessons from a retired state trooper he was showing me how to check and clear the gun. His method was to clear it, turn is head away, and then clear it again.
And I’ve got military and Law Enforcement training plus over 60 years of hunting and competition shooting with pistols, rifles and shotguns. We throw all that out the window when we step on a movie set, it’s a completely different set of rules and none of them agree with yours are mine. And by the way, their all idiots and none can be trusted.
A few years ago I was at an auction in Houston where many old Colt’s and Winchesters were available. I met a gentleman who’s been in the movie industry and supplies weapons and has been the armorer on many movie set’s. Since we’re both collectors of old Colt’s and Winchesters we stay in touch. I even loaned him a rifle and a pistol he needed for several scenes an actor needed in a movie they were shooting in Arizona. When he supplies the weapons on a shot he’s the sole armorer. I gave him a call and asked him about this. First off he didn’t have anything good about the company they used to supply the weapons need for the film in question. He also said that his whole business depends on his ability to not just provide weapons for movies but to insure the safety of those weapons. First thing he said about this incident was too many people handling that weapon, a situation he would never allow. Second thing he said was nobody handles that weapon but me, I trust nobody. He said he will show anybody asking that the weapon is safe and properly loaded but will not allow them to check it themselves. Might add that he said it sounded like this whole production was/is a cluster truck that he would never allow his company to get involved with. If you’ve seen the movie Tombstone you’ve seen this man, he’s also an actor.
What’s the worry here? Give them real guns, real bullets and sit back and watch while the country’s most vocal idiots kill each other off...and we get some good youtube footage in the deal too!
Maybe we can get whorealdo to do a cameo in the next baldwin movie too.
This could definitely have an upside...
Livestream it on pay per view and pay off the nation debt in a year.
I was thinking about this. Hollywood should be treated like we are... If there’s a gun problem, pass lots of laws that restrict gun use and ownership that don’t really solve the problem. Nevermind the few idiots that cause the problem. Just make sweeping legislation!
1. All Hollywood directors and producers should have to possess a personal FFL.
2. All Hollywood actors must pass a strict background check every time they are signed for a new movie, and prove their proficiency on the range, or no movie role - even if there is no gun in the movie.
3. Everyone on set must wear bulletproof vests. It’s gonna kill the bikini scenes, but hey, if it saves ONE LIFE...
4. Every Hollywood movie must be approved by the NRA.
5. All Hollywood prop guns must be painted bright orange, and every time a trigger is pulled, the actor must say, on screen, “pew, pew coming - get ready”...
6. And finally - there must be a six month waiting period before production can begin on any movie.
If you need a sarcasm tag on this, you’re in the wrong forum...
It's amazing how few gun people from activists to instructors understand this concept. John Lott wrote a piece for AmericanThinker that I commented was totally embarrassing. Lott was clearly pontificating on a subject he knew nothing about. Standard firearms safety rules and protocols have little to nothing to do with gun safety on a movie set, period. Again in my opinion 2nd amendment supporters have really made themselves look stupid when commenting about this story.
Chuck Conners was asked about opening scene of Rifle Man. Asked about number of shots. Said there were 11 although the rifle only held 8 shot. The extra shots were added to accompany the music.
Well John Wayne did accidentally shoot Ward Bond in the butt during one of their hunting trip. Ward Bond left the rifle to Wayne in his will.
Well John Wayne did accidentally shoot Ward Bond in the butt during one of their hunting trip. Ward Bond left the rifle to Wayne in his will.
How hard would it be to design the guns to only shoot blanks? Military 240s and 50s have a small metal piece that partially blocks the link tray in order to prevent live rounds from entering (live rounds are slightly longer than blanks). Why wouldn’t they use firearms with such an adaptor, or ones with such a limiter built-in, to prevent live rounds from ever being fired? Sure, you still can have injuries short-range from blanks, but this would prevent any live ammo from being fed.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.