Fatal accident while shooting “Rust”
How did live ammunition get onto the film set?
Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was fatally injured on the set of Rust.
© imago images / ZUMA Wire
After the fatal incident on the set of the western “Rust”, the gunsmith of the film now also speaks out.
Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the gunsmith in charge on the set of “Rust”, first commented on the incident in which the actor Alec Baldwin (63) recently shot the 42-year-old cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. “Safety is Hannah’s number one priority on the set,” said a statement by Gutierrez-Reed’s lawyers, among other things the industry portal “Deadline” and the US broadcaster “NBC” is available.
Gutierrez-Reed was “devastated”. You have “no idea where the live ammunition came from,” it said. An incident like this would never have happened on the film set had it not been for live ammunition.
An unsafe film set?
According to the lawyers, the weapons are said to have been locked away overnight and during lunch breaks. Gutierrez-Reed had another task on the set, “which made it extremely difficult to concentrate on her job as a gun master.” She allegedly campaigned for training, days to maintain the prop weapons and more preparation time before using the weapons, which she was not granted. The entire set had become “unsafe due to several factors”, including because there were no meetings related to security.
The police had previously announced that Hutchins had been hit by a sharp bullet. More live ammunition bullets may also have been found on the set. While filming, a shot had apparently been accidentally released while Baldwin was rehearsing the gun he was handed.
Director Joel Souza (48) was also injured in the incident, but was discharged from the hospital shortly afterwards. Baldwin is said not to have known that the gun was loaded with live ammunition in his hand. The assistant director Dave Halls had handed it to the actor and explained that it was a “cold gun” without live ammunition. Halls later stated to the police that he had not checked the gun closely enough.