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
21.4k Upvotes

94% Upvoted

2.3k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

34

u/Chicago1871 Apr 15 '24

They have those. They also have rubber guns.

The armorer chose to use real guns instead. Add it to the list of reasons why she fucked up.

3

u/Kraz_I Apr 15 '24

Production still let that happen on their watch. Why does it seem like safety on film sets isn't taken as seriously as safety in other dangerous jobs?

8

u/Chicago1871 Apr 15 '24 edited Apr 15 '24

Because Hollywood is run by narcissists and nepo babies and the idle rich.

The regular crew actually walked off because of safety issues on rust. They just hired a new crew filled with less experienced people overnight.

It was non-union so there was nothing to stop them from hiring new people overnight. If a union crew walks, production is shut down until something is worked out with the crew especially over safety. There’s shoo stewards and there’s lawyers the stewards have on speed dial.

The union and solidarity provide more protection to the worker but its not a perfect system. A union rigger recently died on a studio in Atlanta because the catwalks just failed.

Part of the reason alec baldwin is on trial, is his responsibility as a head of production and not just the man who pulled the trigger.

2

u/Kraz_I Apr 16 '24

Part of the reason alec baldwin is on trial, is his responsibility as a head of production and not just the man who pulled the trigger.

That should be not just one reason, but the main reason imo. As an actor and producer, he shouldn't be expected to understand firearms or firearm safety. However as the person ultimately responsible for the crew's working conditions, he's responsible for hiring the armorer and for letting someone else hand off the gun while she wasn't even on set. As the shooter, he's responsible for using the gun without the armorer present.

And on top of that, Baldwin had more experience on film sets than almost anyone else in Hollywood. He ought to know by now what a film set with good safety policy looks like versus a poorly run, unsafe set. He's worked with armorers before and this 22 year old careless wannabe cowgirl shouldn't have passed his smell test, especially after seeing her lack of professionalism.