Halyna Hutchins' Death by a Prop Gun

[swo17]

From the people that brought you "What if vaccines are more dangerous than the virus?"

[Brian C]

That seems like a fake meme. Real conspiracy theorists know that prop guns don’t kill people - liberal Hollywood elites kill people.

[swo17]

Been seeing a lot of people relishing that Baldwin's going through hell right now, because he was an "anti gun nut" and because he impersonated Trump I guess. Honestly the hardest thing about life right now is that half of us are "all in this together" and the other half are laughing at us

[hearthesilence]

Honestly the hardest thing about life right now is that half of us are "all in this together" and the other half are laughing at us

That's basically the definition of the Trump era. He didn't just highlight these qualities in people, he (and ultimately anyone who cast a ballot for him) fostered it to a greater degree.

[Vincejansenist]

Honestly the hardest thing about life right now is that half of us are "all in this together" and the other half are laughing at us

Half of us? Like only a fifth of the US population voted for Trump and only a quarter for Biden.

[swo17]

I wasn't being exact with my numbers, but I also wasn't making a political statement

[knives]

Honestly the hardest thing about life right now is that half of us are "all in this together" and the other half are laughing at us

That's basically the definition of the Trump era. He didn't just highlight these qualities in people, he (and ultimately anyone who cast a ballot for him) fostered it to a greater degree.

Not to take this off topic too much, but while many problems are unique to trump world the overly sectarian us and them no gray area mentality is a seemingly universal trait at the moment with people of all stripes expressing ceaseless hate for their out groups. I know I’ve struggled to temper this with myself with Jan. 6th being a serious self reckoning for how that was also a reflection of my worst self.

In terms of Baldwin all the discourse directly on him should be in empathy for what his emotional state must be as the one who pulled the trigger.

[Michael Kerpan]

There has been zero discussion of the circumstances when the fatal shot was fired -- surprisingly. Was Baldwin just firing "for fun"? I doubt it. It would seem to me that the cinematographer and the director (standing directly behind her) were actually doing a scene that involved Baldwin firing towards the camera. Just my guess...

[swo17]

I read somewhere that they were doing a screen test of him sitting in a church pew and shooting directly at the camera

[Rayon Vert]

CNN had this a few days ago:

The shot that killed a cinematographer on a New Mexico film set last week was fired as actor Alec Baldwin was practicing drawing his gun, according to the director who was injured in the shooting, an affidavit for a search warrant shows.

Joel Souza, director of the film "Rust," was shot in the shoulder and director of photography Halyna Hutchins, 42, was killed when the prop gun went off during a rehearsal at the Bonanza Creek Ranch in Santa Fe on Thursday.

Souza spoke to investigators Friday, according to the affidavit released by the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office on Sunday.

Souza told them Baldwin was "sitting in a pew in a church building setting, and he was practicing a cross draw," the affidavit said. A cross draw is when a shooter pulls the weapon from a holster on the opposite side of the body from the draw hand.

[Lemmy Caution]

Veteran prop master Neal W. Zoromski earlier told The Los Angeles Times that he declined an offer to work on “Rust” because producers insisted that one person could serve as both assistant prop master and armorer. Zoromski said those are “two really big jobs” that couldn’t be combined. He called the production “an accident waiting to happen.”

“Hannah Gutierrez Reed was hired on two positions on this film, which made it extremely difficult to focus on her job as an armorer,” they said. “She fought for training, days to maintain weapons, and proper time to prepare for gunfire but ultimately was overruled by production and her department. The whole production set became unsafe due to various factors, including lack of safety meetings. This was not the fault of Hannah.”

So they hired a young inexperienced person to do two jobs ...

[Michael Kerpan]

Rayon Vert -- I guess I missed the CNN story. Thanks.

[Finch]

Producers warned about AD Dave Halls' indifference to safety issues on his previous film
At this point, I think Halls and the producers on set have more to be concerned about than Gutierrez-Reed but she isn't out of the woods.

[Rayon Vert]

Here's a bit more on how it apparently unfolded, as reported by a CNN writer "based on a search warrant affidavit and 911 calls".

Baldwin and crew members began rehearsing a scene in the rustic church, broke for lunch, and then returned to the set.

Baldwin, dressed in Old West clothes, was huddled with Souza, cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and a few others inside the simple wooden structure. One camera was set up, but because they were just rehearsing, nothing was being filmed or recorded.

Assistant director Dave Halls fetched a prop gun from a cart outside the church and yelled "cold gun!," indicating it was unloaded. He then handed it to Baldwin, who sat in a church pew facing the camera and crew.

Baldwin was demonstrating a "cross draw" -- pulling a gun from a holster on the opposite side of his body from his draw hand. The scene required him to point the gun toward the camera.

It was about 1:50 p.m. Souza told deputies he was viewing the scene through the camera and nearby monitors when he heard "what sounded like a whip and then a loud pop."

Hutchins stumbled backward and slumped to the floor, clutching her stomach and saying she couldn't feel her legs. Souza, who had been standing beside her, noticed blood on his shoulder.

[Toland's Mitchell]

Regardless if Gutierrez-Reed was hired for two jobs, when people's lives and safety are the responsibility of one of those jobs, then that job takes priority over the other. A gun with a live bullet should not have been on set, and especially should not have been left unattended.

But yes, Dave Halls's position is looking worse.

As for Baldwin, he isn't to blame. However, for all his years in showbusiness and for all the times he has wielded a firearm on camera (Thick as Thieves, The Edge, Hunt for Red October, Miami Blue), I find it impossible to believe he had never been through the safety procedure I described in post #48. Again, not his fault, but he still should have known better. As for whether or not he will face legal consequences, as a producer on the film, I assume a portion of the class action settlement going to Halyna's family will come out of his pocket. There may be additional fines but I doubt he'll face jail time or community service. However, Gutierrez-Reed and Halls may see the inside of a jail cell, unless other evidence comes out, and if the outcome of this case is similar to The Sarah Jones Case.

[captveg]

The most frustrating and sad thing about this incident is that there were several industry safety steps in place that were cut short or bypassed altogether. Goes to show that no matter how much of a process has been created to mitigate risk, human error or disregard for those processes can push through to allow disaster.

[aox]

as a producer on the film, I assume a portion of the class action settlement going to Halyna's family will come out of his pocket.[/url].

Isn't this the purpose of the production having an LLC?

[Finch]

THR interviews camera A first assistant Lane Luper who walked off the set the day before Hutchins died.
This film has a snowball's chance in hell of ever getting finished.

[therewillbeblus]

Baldwin stood in for an "interview" with paparazzi who were staking him and his family out in Manchester, VT earlier in the week, and also expressed doubt/disinterest in the film resuming production. There's just no way, and honestly it's probably best for all involved.

[therewillbeblus]

Hutchins' family sues Baldwin and Rust producers

[Toland's Mitchell]

‘Rust’ Production Company Fined Nearly $137,000, along with detailed summary of the investigation.

[Never Cursed]

Somehow, filming of this will resume in January after the production shingle reached a settlement with Hutchins' estate

[swo17]

Well the big news here is that her husband apparently wants this and will executive produce. Surely it will have a prominent "For Halyna" credit at the end. Best possible outcome, I should think, in terms of everyone's healing and forgiveness for Baldwin

[Peacock]

Executive producer is normally just a way of paying someone while bypassing union rules so I guess he sees this as a way to get some compensation out of this sad situation. Personally I think it’s going to be a difficult watch for a lot of people seeing Baldwin wise cracking and emoting knowing that probably a few scenes later he kill a crew member. Obviously they would cut that sequence out but people will try and guess where in the film it happened etc. I’m not one for suppressing films or anything, finish it by all means… I just feel it’s going to be a weird watch.

[swo17]

As I recall they were just broadly rehearsing when the shooting happened, so I don't know that there would be a sequence to cut out