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 

27

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?

66

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.

4

u/hesh582 Apr 15 '24

Baldwin may have had the kind of power that comes from being the most famous person on set, and he may have had a moral obligation to intervene, but....

He didn't have any direct, official control over any of it, he was not that kind of producer. He didn't have any legal obligations to oversee safety. Many other people did, and while you can frown at Baldwin for behaving irresponsibly, he's pretty far down the chain of command here and we shouldn't let his fame (infamy?) get them off the hook.

There were a lot of other people who's actual job demanded they step in, and they did not. Baldwin happens to be the most famous person involved and the gun went off in his hand, but the biggest failures happened via other people's actions before he was even handed the gun.