Alec Baldwin fatally shot someone on movie set with gun mishap
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Anonymous
I have confidence that they can figure out how to have guns in movies without pointing them at cast and crew. |
Anonymous
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People are assuming the gun was aimed at the cinematographer. I know next to nothing about guns. Given that this was by all accounts an accident and no one in the room was aware the gun had anything in it (whether blank, debris, or what), is it possible for material to fire out if a gun at an angle? Again, I have no clue and when I Googled I could not find anything useful, so I’m asking. Is it possible that (as some reports have said) Baldwin was pointing the gun down towards the ground but the “live round” (which may have been debris left from when the ammunition’s master was firing the gun earlier in the day) came out of the gun at an angle, or perhaps producing a chunk of shrapnel that broke off and hit the cinematographer and director?
I ask because people are fixated on the idea that Baldwin aimed the gun at these people. But everyone involved, including the woman who was killed, were skilled veterans of film sets. I have a hard time believing that they would rehearse this by having Baldwin point the gun at anyone, even if they assumed it was a cold gun, simply because the rules on firearms on set are so extensive. I just think a lot of people in this thread are letting their imaginations run wild and assuming they know where people were standing and how this happened, and I think most of us have no idea because we’ve never been in a situation like that. But the people involved had, many times. |
Anonymous
| Who was in charge of the props. So that person did not tripple check the props. Very very irresponsible. |
Anonymous
Look carefully at movies where guns are discharged. It is rare to find a scene that actually shows an actor shooting another actor when they’re both in frame at once. If the gun is being shot toward the camera, it is usually at a slight angle, and not head on. My DH & I were discussing this tonight, and we tried to find a scene in a western that showed someone shooting an actor on camera (in frame), & didn’t find one. I think part of the issue is timing the discharge with the squibs that show impact. It’s just easier to cut from one to the other. FYI - I also read tonight that a “live” round in film terminology can mean a blank. |
Anonymous
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Baldwin hired a 'head armorer' who didn't even know how to load a blank properly. She's the one that loaded three guns ready for the shoot and the live one was handed off to the Assistant Director who gave it to Alec Baldwin.
I almost didn't take the job because I wasn't sure if I was ready, but doing it, it went really smoothly,' Hannah Gutierrez-Reed said in a podcast interview last month after leading the firearms department for The Old Way, starring Nicolas Cage - her first time as head armorer. She also admitted in the podcast interview she found loading blanks into a gun 'the scariest' thing because she did not know how to do it and had sought help from her father, legendary gunsmith Thell Reed, to get over the fear. Hannah Gutierrez-Reed 
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Anonymous
There are literally cast and crew surrounding the actors in a 360 degree production to get good angles, filming, and lighting on all side. You could point a gun behind you and hit someone. The problem is someone brought live ammunition on set and someone else was too stupid to be handling a gun in the first place. Usually Hollywood films, and only union films are allowed in California (notice this one was filmed in New Mexico), has two armourers on set. The Armourer loads the weapon and checks it. Then Head Armourer re-checks the magazine and ensures its say. For some reason only known to the production team, of which Alec was lead Producer, they hired a 24-year-old who couldn't tell a blank from a live. And that cost a woman her life. |
Anonymous
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New national rule needed - the only Head Armourer on set can be a licensed professional with 10 years experience or a 5-year background in military or private security or law enforcement.
If that 24-year-olds father had been hired - this never would have happened. He's a legend and a professional. |
Anonymous
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^ Not defending anything that happened in this situation as someone died and this was obviously a colossal screw up. But she’s saying in that interview that she did not know *at one point* how to load blanks. No one is born knowing how to do that. She says she then worked with an experienced armorer to learn. That all checks out.
I would prefer an armorer with a healthy fear of guns. I think it sounds like what happened on the set of Rust is that too many people (including possibly the armorer) did NOT have that fear, and made dumb and lazy choices that led to someone dying. Obviously you want competent, confident people in set. But I am not bothered by someone saying “when I started working with these deadly weapons, I was nervous and had to work hard to reach a point if of competence and comfort.” That’s good. |
Anonymous
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Her father who got her the job is Thell Reed. An infamous Hollywood Head Armourer who never had something like this happen. He the elite of the elite. Every major western has him on staff.
News flash: you want to practice nepotism for your kid, give them a cheap walk-on role, don't put a gun in their hand. 
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Anonymous
You can't even buy a weapon of your own in California until you're 21. I'm sorry her summer camp where she got 3 weeks of knowledge on live versus blanks was clearly insufficient knowledge to even have her on set, let alone as Head Armourer who is the person whose job it is to ENSURE THE SAFETY OF THE WEAPONS. She wasn't even a stunt-person who mistakenly fired a round. Her only job was to unload and reload the f**king weapons. |
Anonymous
Lots of inaccurate details here. On a film set, a blank is considered a “live round”. A gun loaded with blanks is considered a hot gun. Because blanks can kill people. So can anything lodged anywhere in a gun, including debris from the gun having been fired previously. That’s why cleaning a gun after every use is such an important safety step, and why triple checks of guns on set is standard. When reports say the gun had a “live round”, they are talking about a blank. Film sets are not even allowed to have actual bullet-tipped ammo on set, and even with blanks there are levels (1/2, 1/4, etc.) and the highest level is more restricted and requires greater on-set precautions. So no, the issue here is not that someone didn’t know a blank from a live round. Blanks ARE live rounds. The issue is that a gun was handed to an actor with something inside it, and reportedly called a “cold gun” (ie an unloaded weapon that has been triple checked to be empty). It’s also an issue that a real gun, instead of a rubber gun, was used during a rehearsal. Standard protocol is that actors only handle real guns (a prop gun is a real gun) for as little time as possible, during the actual filming of the shot. It’s also an issue that an AD handed Baldwin the gun— only an armorer or prop master should be handling the gun, and only after performing required checks. The AD likely did not check the gun, and is not qualified to do so anyway. Plus you have the issues with a camera crew walking off the set because of unsafe conditions that included 12-14 hr workdays with insufficient breaks or time off. This was an unsafe set with non-Union workers who were being asked to work long hours under unsafe conditions. Corners were being cut for financial reasons. And someone died. This is a management issue and everyone in a position of authority on that set (including Baldwin, who as stated and co-producer was absolutely in a position of authority) bears some responsibility for this woman’s death. |
Anonymous
Do we know for sure that Baldwin hired her or are you speculating? He’s one of many producers. |
Anonymous
DP. This PP has no idea what they are talking about. |
Anonymous
I think the actual rule needed is no live ammo and no blanks. If they can add space ships and dinosaurs with technology, then I’m confident they can add gun shot effects. Geez. All the headlines today are finally asking the obvious question: wtf was live ammo doing on the set?!?! |
Anonymous
Costs more money to CGI and some actor/producers like to be 'authentic'. Christopher Nolan, director of TENET, blew up an entire plane with explosives in 2019 because its cheaper than CGI. |