Fewer than three weeks before actor Alec Baldwin is due to go on trial in Santa Fe, New Mexico, prosecutors have said that he “engaged in horseplay with the revolver”, including firing a blank round at a crew member on the set of Rust before the tragic accident occurred.
Baldwin is facing involuntary manslaughter charges in the 2021 shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
In new court documents, prosecutors said they plan to bring new evidence to support their case that the 66-year-old actor and producer was reckless with firearms while filming on the set and displayed “erratic and aggressive behavior during the filming” that created potential safety concerns.
Prosecutors in the case, which is due to go to trial on 10 July, have previously alleged that to watch Baldwin’s conduct on the set of Rust “is to witness a man who has absolutely no control of his own emotions and absolutely no concern for how his conduct affects those around him”.
In the latest filing, special prosecutors Kari Morrissey and Erlinda Johnson allege that Baldwin pointed his gun and fired “a blank round at a crew member while using that crew member as a line of site as his perceived target”.
Guns used on film sets are real guns. They’re simply loaded with blanks. Basically every movie and television show you’ve ever seen involved people breaking the “safety rules” of firearms. Every time you see a gun pointed at “you,” i.e. the camera, an actor is pointing a real gun at a cameraperson who is holding the camera, which is precisely what happened here.
When you see people “shooting” at each other, they’re firing real guns loaded with blanks at each other. You can certainly remove all realistic gunplay from movies and TV, and I’m fine with that, but it’s absurd to think that the same rules of firearm safety apply equally in the context of filmmaking.
which proves it I not safe? yes that’s the point, something dangerous was done, maybe normalized in the industry but still dangerous. a boom or tripod can always be used to not have someone behind the camera on the other end of a gun
Yes, and instead of shooting at each other people can shoot at the ground and then just make really mean facial expressions at each other. Or we can just take guns out of tv and movies altogether. Or they can use squirt guns and people can use their imagination.
There’s very obviously all sorts of ways to make Hollywood safer, but the use of guns isn’t where I would start since injury or death from guns is extremely rare in Hollywood. If you’re interested in making the industry less dangerous, I would suggest reviewing how “acceptable risk” is determined when it comes to stunts.
I love strawmanning something nobody said, it’s not dishonest at all.
A rare risk, that’s easy to avoid. why not just avoid it when possible? A camera operator rarely needs to be in front of a gun, so try to avoid it when it’s not absolutely necessary? This seems like basic risk minimization
K
insightful response
You’re not worth the time. Blocked.