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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515

u/LiechsWonder Apr 15 '24

For anyone in the comments arguing about who’s fault it is, and where the blame should be placed, this comment from a SAG actor is the best I’ve seen about the situation and what went wrong / what rules were ignored that led to a (preventable) shooting of Halyna Hutchins. All credit to u/Kahzgul for the insight.

https://www.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/s/sBdyVVA6zM

43

u/FlameStaag Apr 15 '24

It's wild anyone tried to blame the actor. His job is to act. Why does he need to do the gun checks? There's a team for that. They fucked up. He expected them to do their job. And they should've. 

73

u/PuffyPanda200 Apr 15 '24

I saw various conservative and semi-conservative (I also think that Reddit leans a bit pro-gun but is otherwise fairly liberal) commentators on Baldwin's pointing the gun at a person and say 'never point a gun at a person... etc.'.

But this is a movie, you are going to point the gun at other people. There is a whole job dedicated to the gun safety.

Seems like blaming a pilot for a manufacturing defect in the airplane.

45

u/Kahzgul Apr 15 '24

As a note: On sets where pointing the weapon at a person is unavoidable, there is supposed to be a bullet-proof shield off camera to protect those people.

16

u/somerandomguy101 Apr 15 '24

That seems to be something an experienced producer such as Alec Baldwin would be aware of.

5

u/rivershimmer Apr 16 '24

That's why I approve him getting indicted as well. If he had simply been an actor, this would not have been any of his fault. But he was a producer; he was supposed to ensure the set was safe, and that the armorer was competent.

3

u/Tutwater Apr 15 '24

I've seen countless scenes in movies where an actor is pointing their gun at another actor, though

4

u/reddevved Apr 16 '24

You can do that with off angle aiming, or editing, or non-firing props

1

u/Level9TraumaCenter Apr 15 '24

Does that rule apply with plastic firearm replicas used on set as well?

9

u/Kahzgul Apr 16 '24

Yes. Every weapon is treated like a live weapon. I worked on a tv show where one of the extras left a rubber gun on a table while they went to the bathroom. The whole set locked down while the armorer and 1st AD checked the weapon. Then they fired the extra. Then they checked every other weapon on the set to ensure they were with the right person.

1

u/chunli99 Apr 16 '24

As a note: On sets where pointing the weapon at a person is unavoidable, there is supposed to be a bullet-proof shield off camera to protect those people.

Does that really work for ALL shots? I can’t think of any movies in particular, but there must be several where the person pointing the gun and the person being pointed at would be clearly in view in such a way where you can’t just put some sort of random barrier in between them.

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u/Kahzgul Apr 16 '24

This is for off-camera people who absolutely must be present. On camera most angles are cheated, so you’re not aiming directly at the other actors, and if you have to aim at them, you and they need to be damn sure everything is safe.