The actor Alec Baldwin, who fatally shot a cinematographer on the set of the film “Rust” last year with a gun he had been told was safe, sued several crew members, accusing them of negligence.
Having worked in British Television for over 30 years and having looked after Bectu’s freelance branches Costume & Wardrobe and Hair & Make – we’re always on the brink of a lapse in safety due to a lack of time or exhaustion. If you work in Film or TV be warned. “It’s been over a year since the actor, Alex Balwin fired the bullet that killed the cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. Now Balwin is suing several members of the crew as reported by Julia Jacobs in The New York Times: His suit names Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the film’s armorer, who was in charge of handling guns and ammunition on set; Dave Halls, the first assistant director, who handed the gun to Mr. Baldwin that day and declared it safe; Sarah Zachry, the crew member in charge of props; and Seth Kenney, who has been described as the primary supplier of guns and ammunition to the film set. A lawyer for Mr. Baldwin, Luke Nikas, wrote in the complaint that they had not fulfilled their professional duty to maintain safety on set.
‘This tragedy happened because live bullets were delivered to the set and loaded into the gun,” the lawsuit said. It accused Ms. Gutierrez-Reed of failing to check the bullets or the gun carefully; Mr. Halls of failing to check the gun carefully before announcing it was safe and handing it to Mr. Baldwin; and Ms. Zachry of breaching her duty as props master by failing to ensure the safety of the weapons and ammunition on the set.”
I’ve never seen members of a production team or props handle a gun – it was always in the care and control of the armourer, or if the actor has it, that would be under the armourer’s supervision, and the armourer opens the gun and shows the actor that it’s empty – that’s the standard. I don’t think it’s changed, at least not in the UK. How many hours had this crew worked? Were they too exhausted to do their jobs correctly? Was this low-budget chaos? Were the crew being bullied? Were they able to concentrate? The producer has a duty of care toward them – Alec Balwin was given credit as a producer; what kind of producer he was could be crucial in this case. His suit looks like the delegation of blame!
The Megan Kelly show makes some additional interesting points: https://tinyurl.com/32ypwm69
I also don’t understand why Balwin’s legal team haven’t told him to stop talking about it – as not being able to shut up, just makes him look guilty or self-obsessed or both!
#HalynaHutchins #Rust #AlecBalwin
