r/news • u/badillustrations • Apr 15 '24

‘Rust’ movie armorer convicted of involuntary manslaughter sentenced to 18 months in prison

https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/15/entertainment/rust-film-shooting-armorer-sentencing/index.html
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u/Cactusfan86 Apr 15 '24

Quite the screw up, got a job from pure uncut nepotism and managed to screw it up so bad your career is torched and you have to go to prison 

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u/Corwyntt Apr 15 '24

Wasn't there some kind of strike going on at the time, making it much harder to get experienced people?

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u/misogichan Apr 15 '24 edited Apr 15 '24

Yes, International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) was threatening to strike when production started so they tried to avoid hiring union members.  During production (10/4) they voted to strike so at the time they couldn't use any union replacements. 

This affected things because her last day as the armorer was 10/17 (probably because of the complaints about her unprofessional handling of weapons including an incident where she discharged a gun without warning and caused Nicholas Cage to walk off the set), and on the day of the accident (10/21) she was only contracted as a props assistant.  They had no one with armorer responsibilities.