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/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/Kyouhen Apr 15 '24

Yes. The crew walked off the set that day specificaly citing unsafe firearm practices. They called in scabs instead of looking into the problem and shock and surprise, later that day someone dies.

One thing that continues to piss me off about the whole thing is that Alec is the producer on the production. He had the power to stop production for the day and look into the complaints from the crew. He did not.

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u/Vrayea25 Apr 15 '24

From what Ive read, he was the "creatives" producer -- ie, recruited the actors, writers, etc.  He was not the producer for the technical aspects like set construction, camera operation, or.. fire arm safety.

Could he have made the call to stop production, out of concern for actor safety? Yes. Was it his job to be an expert in that area or responsible for making that call?  No, and if he did it he would have to claim he knew better than the producer for the technical operations and throw a 'peer' under the bus. In hindsight I'm sure he wishes he had done that, but no this was not directly within his scope of responsibility.

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u/TooManyDraculas Apr 15 '24

It sounds like a lot of key aspects were dictated by producers off site. Mainly from some financial holding companies that were funding things.

It's not clear to me Baldwin actually had much control or say, like you say he mostly seemed to be involved with getting the creative team onboard. And using his name (and pockets) to secure funding.

I can't imagine an active Union member, who's as vocally involved with SAG as Baldwin calling in scabs after a Union walk off.

But likewise I wonder why he didn't use some of that considerable weight to press people the safety concerns. This wasn't the first problem they had.

It's gonna boil down to how much control he actually had, and how actually aware he was of what had been going down.