Rust - Alec Baldwin Prop Gun Accident Kills Cinematographer

[JediJones77]

Another tragedy on a movie set. I wonder if the stunt and safety coordination talent is spread too thin across the industry to create proper safety on all the many sets out there.

https://variety.com/2021/film/news/a...fe-1235094931/

Alec Baldwin fired a prop gun on a set in New Mexico on Thursday, accidentally killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza.

No one was arrested in the incident, and no charges have been filed, the office said. Detectives were interviewing witnesses, and the incident remains under an “open and active” investigation, according to the Sheriff’s office.

Hutchins graduated from the American Film Institute in 2015, and had worked on several short films before shooting “Archenemy,” a 2020 feature starring Joe Manganiello. She was named a “rising star” by American Cinematographer in 2019.

“She’s a wonderful, positive, creative person that was so excited to be breaking through and making movies,” said Michael Pessah, a cinematographer who was a friend of Hutchins’. “She was really on the upswing.”

[LordCrumb]

Tragic as it is a totally avoidable death.

[JediJones77]

Some dark irony concerning the plot of the movie.

Baldwin is a co-producer on the film and plays infamous outlaw Rust, whose 13-year-old grandson is convicted of an accidental murder.

The only times I'm aware of a death happening before with a gun on set were Jon-Erik Hexum (shot himself as a joke not realizing the blanks were dangerous at close range) and Brandon Lee. I'm going to assume there were more than that I just don't know about though.

[Lee A Stewart]

The Sheriff’s Office says Baldwin shot and killed the photography director, 42-year-old Halyna Hutchins. She was taken to UNM Hospital in Albuquerque where she died. Deputies say crews were filming a scene that involved a prop firearm. It’s not clear what happened but two people were shot.

Deputies taped off a church on set which was put on lockdown and production has been halted in the meantime. The movie’s director, 48-year-old Joel Souza, was taken to the Christus St. Vincent in Santa Fe and is receiving treatment.

As of right now, no charges have been filed. The investigation remains open and active as detectives interview witnesses. This is a developing story and KRQE News 13 will provide updates as soon as they become available.

https://www.krqe.com/entertainment-n...near-santa-fe/

[JediJones77]

Deadline says:

The castmember, now identified as Baldwin, was unaware of the type of ammunition in the gun, we’re told.

https://deadline.com/2021/10/alec-ba...st-1234860500/

[Katatonia]

I just saw this in the news earlier. Wow...

I vividly recall the Brandon Lee incident, but haven't really heard of anything like this happening since then.

It should be interesting to hear what the prop master or armorer had to do with the actual gun preparation and instructions...or what exactly transpired. It sounds a little hard to believe these were ordinary prop blanks that were loaded.

R.I.P. Halyna Hutchins

http://www.halynahutchinsdp.com/

[tcripe]

This reminds me of Brandon Lee. How do this happen again?!?!?

[JediJones77]

The Brandon Lee incident was caused by improper configuring of the firearm by the special effects crew. It had been loaded with blanks, but still had a bullet lodged in the barrel from an earlier scene, where the gun had been loaded with bullets for closeup shots, but was not done with the proper technique. Full technical description here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandon_Lee#Death

An earlier incident was Jon-Erik Hexum's death in the 1980s on a TV series set, when he shot a gun loaded with blanks at his own head as a joke. He was not aware that blanks were dangerous at close range.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon-Erik_Hexum#Death

I'm not sure what other firearm deaths have occurred on film sets, or if any ever involved guns that were intended to be fired with live ammunition during filming.

This incident sounds more like the Hexum case, where Baldwin may have been firing the gun as a joke, not realizing it was dangerous. Not sure why else it would've been pointed at the director or cinematographer.

[Lee A Stewart]

Mexican actor Antonio Velasco was killed on the set of a film being shot south of Mexico City when a "prop gun" being used by another actor turned out to have been loaded with real bullets instead of blanks. Flavio Peniche, the actor who fired the gun, was later arrested on suspicion of manslaughter and released on $40,000 bail. News reports said that Peniche had run to Velasco after realizing that he had shot him and tried to help. Another report said that Eduardo Martinez Sanchez, a producer of the film, titled The Scorpion's Vengeance, and a prop manager known as El Cepillo, disappeared after the incident.

[JediJones77]

We could end up with another John Landis-style criminal negligence case. Even more likely that Baldwin has to make a financial settlement with Hutchins' family. It's hard to see how the movie continues production with the subject matter being so similar to the real-life tragedy here.

[Lee A Stewart]

How about holding off on all the negative speculation until the facts of the incident are made public.

[Frank TJ Mackey]

Originally Posted by JediJones77

We could end up with another John Landis-style criminal negligence case. Even more likely that Baldwin has to make a financial settlement with Hutchins' family. It's hard to see how the movie continues production with the subject matter being so similar to the real-life tragedy here.

Why is Baldwin at fault? He had nothing to do with loading or mismanagement of the gun provided to him

[Chedwiggen]

Curious how they ended up in front of his gun, unless they were filming straight on when it happened.

[Lee A Stewart]

Originally Posted by Chedwiggen

Curious how they ended up in front of his gun.

Not hard to figure out. The Director is standing/seated next to the DP. The scene calls for Baldwin to point the gun at the camera and fire off two quick shots. Director calls ACTION and both are hit by something from the gun.

[Lee A Stewart]

They stopped using wading in blanks years ago. Now they use a crimped blank.

[JediJones77]

Baldwin's also producing the movie under his El Dorado Pictures banner. It sounds like an indie movie without a major studio behind it. So he would likely offer a settlement to Hutchins' family because he believes it's the right thing to do and under advice from his lawyers to avoid a lawsuit.

I didn't say a potential John Landis-style criminal case would involve him necessarily, but whoever is found to be negligent here. Could be him or the prop handler, at least. But the prop handler is not going to have any money, so no one would be suing him.

[Lee A Stewart]

Deputies taped off a church on set which was put on lockdown earlier and production has been halted. It’s unclear when it may resume.

A spokesperson for Rust movie productions told Deadline, the incident on set was an accident involving the misfire of a prop gun. KRQE News 13 spoke with someone who works in the movie industry who deals directly with prop weapons on sets. While not speculating on what happened, he says prop guns are supposed to have a collar and plug and live ammo is never present on a movie set.

As of right now, no charges have been filed. The investigation remains open and active as detectives interview witnesses. KRQE News 13 reached out to the family who operates the movie ranch as well as Baldwin’s publicist but have not heard back.

https://www.krqe.com/entertainment-n...near-santa-fe/

[ChadFL]

Even without all that many specifics, I fail to see how this isn't serious criminal negligence. VERY preventable and sounds extremely similar to the Brandon Lee death during the filming of The Crow, which literally everyone in the film industry is fully aware of.

[ChadFL]

Originally Posted by Lee A Stewart

https://www.krqe.com/entertainment-n...near-santa-fe/

Yeah... this film will never see the light of day. Too much stigma and public backlash will ensue over what sure sounds like criminal negligence. It will be like the Midnight Rider biopic about Gregg Allmann, where the film was quickly canned for good after the criminal negligence of director Randall Miller resulted in a filming crew member being killed by an oncoming train.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midnight_Rider_(film)

[Lee A Stewart]

Deadline earlier reported that Criminal Investigators were called to the scene at Bonanza Creek Ranch just outside Santa Fe as sources informing us that a principal castmember cocked a gun, hitting Souza, 48 and Hutchins, 42, on set. The entire location went under lockdown during the investigation. The castmember, now identified as Baldwin, was unaware of the type of ammunition in the gun, we’re told. A rep from the production said that “Production has been halted for the time being” on Rust and that “the safety of our cast and crew remains our top priority.”

Traditionally, the prop master or armorer is responsible for fire arms and fire arms safety on a set such as Rust.

https://deadline.com/2021/10/alec-ba...st-1234860500/