‘Rust’ crew describes on-set gun safety issues and misfires days before shooting
latimes.com
latimes.com
In a nutshell:
1. Live ammo is never used on set.
2. Sometimes dummy rounds are used to show loading/unloading. If these are not cleared out properly, they can become projectiles if blanks are loaded after them (like Brandon Lee and maybe here).
3. When a gun is to be fired in a scene, no one is supposed to be in the line of fire. In this case Baldwin was practicing pulling the gun out of the holster and apparently accidentally fired the gun, as others including Hutchins lined up the shot.
4. Baldwin was told he had a "cold gun", which was clearly wrong. This had happened earlier on the set, and nothing was done to correct the problem.
5. Yes blanks can kill you at close range. But it is basically impossible that a wadding is all that came out of the gun in this case.
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2021...
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2021-10-22/...
That makes it sound like Baldwin was a victim of others' negligence. But he's not just an actor but the producer, so the buck for repeated safety violations stops with him.
Most actors receive training with firearms so they can handle and fire them convincingly on set. Baldwin has made a several films where he handled firearms, so I'm certain he's had safety training at points in his career. Taking someone's word for it being a "cold gun" is irresponsible.
Dummy rounds are generally visually similar to live rounds (not blanks, which apparently are referred to as “live rounds” in film), so a readily distinguishable from blanks.
"Alec Baldwin is producing and starring in the independent Western action movie “Rust” with Joel Souza directing from his own script, based on a story by Souza and Baldwin."
...
"Highland Film Group will launch international sales at the upcoming Marché du Film Online, which launches on June 22. CAA Media Finance is handling the domestic rights, and BondIt Media Capital is financing. "Baldwin is producing through his El Dorado Pictures banner alongside Anjul Nigam and executive producer Matthew Helderman. Baldwin and Nigam produced Souza’s “Crown Vic.” Anna Granucci is also producing with Elizabeth L. Barbatelli as an executive producer."
source: https://variety.com/2020/film/markets-festivals/alec-baldwin...
So the speculation that "it sounds like he may have just been an actor who was given a producing credit as partial payment for taking a lower salary" that I commented on is clearly not correct.
As to the "decisions", I'm sure he didn't sit down and sweat the operational details ("decisions"), where to get film, etc. But for decisions such as "who'll be the DP?", "we'll shoot in Santa Fe because it allows for non-union crew", or minimally chiming in on the production crisis and crew accommodations issue, are you seriously claiming Alec Baldwin was just hanging out chit chatting with the crew and was not involved at all? He's not some airhead pretty face, he's a business man as well and he is making a film with partners.
Rust has (currently) 5 credited executive producers, 6 producers, and a co-producer.
Even if Baldwin’s producer credit reflects an actual responsible role and not a producer credit in lieu of additional pay, no one not involved in the production can say from the credits alone that Baldwin had any responsibility over the actions that led to the incident, beyond that which he had as an actor (which is not none, to be clear.)
1) I find it unlikely that anything propelled by a blank charge had enough oomph to hit the gal and exit her body and strike the director.
2) no one outranks safety. Anyone picking up a firearm, or being handed one, needs to verify its state, and treat it as if it was loaded.
3) Baldwin pointed it at people and pulled the trigger. It wasn’t a “misfire” or “accidental discharge”. It was a “negligent discharge”.
There were multiple violations of basic firearms safety regs here. Not a single violation is acceptable. Keep it up long enough and someone is going to be killed.
A blank has a normal amount of gun powder. Brandon Lee was killed by the tip of a dummy bullet that was propelled by a blank charge. Unless someone snuck live ammo on set, then it seems like something like that must have happened here.
As to your first point: firearms just don’t go off. He pulled the trigger, while pointing it in an unsafe direction.
I won’t point a weapon at anything I’m not willing to kill EVEN IF I have rendered it inert (removing a firing pin or similar). Basic fucking rule of handling a firearm. If it’s a gun, you treat it as if it’s loaded all the time, every time. Cuz shit happens, and 99.9999% of the time it’s human error.
1. This was a period western and could have been using older single action revolvers that have fewer modern safety mechanisms to avoid accidental discharge. From quora: “ With many single action (cowboy) revolvers, the hammer does rest on a cartridge beneath it. They will fire if they land on the hammer. For those, you leave one chamber empty and keep that one underneath the hammer. That makes them completely safe, too.”
2. Are blanks uniform in amount of gunpowder? Not sure what happens today but I read that in the Crow incident they were overloading blanks with more than the typical amount of gunpowder to overemphasize the muzzle flashes.
3. While your points about gun safety are reasonable, this appears to not be how it is done in movie sets. The armorer is specifically in charge of safety checking all guns repeatedly. Not the actor.
They really need to learn from the professionals.
https://deadline.com/2021/10/alec-baldwin-fatal-shooting-bul...
However I think this is all just based on the original press release the union put out which said "live single round". According to the LA Times - in movies a blank is considered a live round.
And it is coming out that the Assistant Director on this shoot has a lengthy history of blowing off firearm safety: https://consequence.net/2021/10/alec-baldwin-shooting-crew-w...
From the op:
But after filming began, the crews were told they instead would be required to make the 50-mile drive from Albuquerque each day, rather than stay overnight in nearby Santa Fe. That rankled crew members who worried that they might have an accident after spending 12 to 13 hours on the set.
Hutchins had been advocating for safer conditions for her team and was tearful when the camera crew left, said one crew member who was on the set.
“She said, ‘I feel like I’m losing my best friends,’” recalled one of the workers.
As the camera crew — members of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees — spent about an hour assembling their gear at the Bonanza Creek Ranch, several nonunion crew members showed up to replace them, two of the knowledgeable people said.
One of the producers ordered the union members to leave the set and threatened to call security to remove them if they didn’t leave voluntarily.
“Corners were being cut — and they brought in nonunion people so they could continue shooting,” the knowledgeable person said.
The shooting occurred about six hours after the union camera crew left.
https://variety.com/2021/film/news/alec-baldwin-rust-assista...
In any event, they have the shell (with possible fingerprints), and prints on the guy as well. 3 people are supposed to have touched the gun (armorer, ad, and actor), and only 1 person's prints should be on the shell, the armorer. No doubt forensics will be important in this investigation.
There are hundreds of specialized pieces of equipment on a film set and a gun is just one of them. It's not anyone's job but the person responsible for that category of equipment to ensure safety. Here, that would be the armorer, who appears to be have gotten her job through family connections and is clearly a mortal danger to herself and others.
But the buck doesn't stop there. This wasn't even the first misfire on this particular set. A few days prior, when two rounds were negligently discharged, anyone responsible for weapons should have been immediately fired. This didn't happen, showing that the gun safety issues were not only the armorer's fault, but also a symptom of irresponsible and dangerous management at the higher levels of the production.
As a matter of fact, according to the article, the movie's managing team routinely cut corners on the filming environment, forcing crews to commute 100 miles round trip for 12 hour work days, delaying paychecks, and bringing in scabs to keep shooting (both cameras and guns, apparently) when a half dozen crewmembers walked off set to protest working conditions.
Underlying all of this, and at least partly to blame, is the hard truth that every dollar spent to make the set safer for the crew is a dollar that won't be going into the pockets of the people backing the film. Notably, one of the financiers for this movie is BondIt Media Capital, which specializes in lending to troubled or otherwise high-risk productions, and surely expects to be repaid commensurate with that risk.
So in the end, would gun safety have prevented this tragedy? Yes. But the gun was just the weakest link in a chain that was "Rust"ed through from the start.
1. All firearms are always loaded.
2. Be sure of your target and what is beyond it.
3. Keep your finger off the trigger until you’re ready to shoot.
4. Keep your muzzle pointed in a safe direction. Do not point the gun at something you do not want to destroy.
The problem would be if you hand a kid a gun, saying it's a toy gun and they aim and fire it towards their friends. This is basically what happened in this scenario with Alec Baldwin.
I don't necessarily disagree. I too long for the day when entertainers were considered nothing more than trained monkeys. This guy still needs to go to jail though. He could pretend he's Trump while frowning in his prison cell if it makes him feel better. I'm sure SNL could spare a new cinematographer.
> The problem would be if you hand a kid a gun, saying it's
> a toy gun and they aim and fire it towards their friends.
For context, I've served in infantry and have multiple firearms in the house.
Also, not sure what children playing with guns have to do with this accident on the Rust set.
I estimate I have fired > 5,000 rounds of 5.56 and > 100,000 rounds of 7.62, and, I have worked as an armorer, and while my weapon handling may have been safe, it would be insufficient to create a safe environment, because that is inherently an organizational function
You personally need the training with each of the firearms you are handling, as well as the oversight of safety personnel, and a safety culture with strong processes. You also need the safe equipment since a mechanical failure can easily cause one of these accidents too.
People, processes, technology, and leadership.
On a low-budget film pressed for $, & time, neglecting safety, I think it is much easier to understand how this tragedy occurred.
I'm pretty sure someone wouldn't have an unschooled actor operate a motor vehicle. The same thinking should apply when they operate a firearm.
You are expected to know them on any gun range, and most staffed ranges will safety brief / quiz you on them before they let you shoot.
In this case, they say industry SOP would be for 2 people to verify that the weapon is unloaded (set armorer + 1 other).
They should be ffs. Even if it's only prop guns. Basic gun safety rules aren't that hard, and most guns are easy to take apart.
One of the rules I remember is that we'd always pull the trigger upon receiving an uncharged gun, to avoid it going off uncontrolled later if there was a mixup. Pretty sad to think they couldn't do even that.
It's also possible they brought in guns from an unrelated activity (e.g. cowboy action shooting) and failed to check them properly.
"Productions using operational firearms can opt for those intentionally designed to fire blank cartridges — shell casings loaded with gunpowder — or decommissioned firearms tweaked to shoot them. Live ammunition is not allowed on any set."
> A source close to the union said Local 44 does not know what projectile was in the gun and clarified that “live” is an industry term that refers to a gun loaded with some material such as a blank ready for filming.
1. The person handing off said 'cold gun' which to me implies the weapon was not charged with anything. Please clarify if I misunderstood.
2. The victim was shot at a distance. This makes it probable there was an actual bullet in the weapon. Why assume anything different?
So I still wonder why there would be bullets around on the set.
Sometimes they use dummy bullets to show loading, etc. Those dummy bullets can apparently come apart and get lodged in the barrel, and then a blank is loaded behind them.
Bear with me, I'm european and never laid my hands on a firearm ;)
Suspect that Hollywood doesn't use blank firing adaptors like the US military which leads to a much more dangerous situation. Believe they do this for realism.
In the US military we'd take a number of steps to avoid these kind of mishaps.
safe weapon clearing procedures & intentional firing of weapon into sandbagged areas for hazardous conditions
Lots of Training about weapon safety
Team Leaders inspect fire teams
Squad Leaders inspect Squads
Platoon sergeants & LTs inspect platoons
Range Safety controls the whole show and may conduct their own inspections
Inspections include both weapons, magazines, and ammo pouches.
Our exercises never mix blanks with MILES gear, and actual live-fire exercises.
We don't fire weapons towards people at close range unless during warfare.
Military rifles fitted with blank adaptors are known unsafe at close distances.
(And probably the actual protocol of "armorer handles gun and shows what's being done" is safer if you ever involve blanks than having an untrained actor fiddle with a gun)
"Baldwin removed the gun from its holster once without incident, but the second time he did so, ammunition flew toward the trio around the monitor."
https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2021/10/23/who-is-hannah-gutierre...
Seems like a pretty simple fix would be to say that no prop gun that touches a dummy bullet ever touches a blank. Maybe even rig them ahead of time somehow so that it's impossible to load one in the other.