There had been an incident on a previous film. The assistant director who gave Alec Baldwin the weapon responsible for the death of a cinematographer on set last week had already been fired from a previous film for an accident involving a gun, a- we learned Monday from the production company.
On the set of Rust, Dave Halls had given Alec Baldwin a supposedly empty weapon that the actor had used to rehearse a scene. A shot accidentally went off, killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injuring director Joel Souza.
“Dave Halls was fired from filming Freedom’s Path in 2019 after a member of the team was slightly injured when a weapon was accidentally operated, ”a producer of the film, which is yet to be released, told AFP. “Halls was kicked off the set immediately after the prop shot. The production did not resume running until Dave left the scene, ”added this source, adding that a written report had been made at the time.
The police investigation, still ongoing, has not yet clarified the responsibilities of those present on October 21 on the ranch in Santa Fe (New Mexico) during the filming of Rust.
No prosecution for the moment
No prosecution has been initiated at this point but attention is focused on those who handled the weapon before the fatal shot, in particular Dave Halls and the chief gunsmith of the shoot, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, 24.
Specialists emphasize that the role of a gunsmith is to constantly watch over the firearms present on the set and to check at all stages whether they are loaded or not.
According to The Wrap, a site specializing in entertainment, which quotes sources close to the filming of Rust, the weapon which killed Halyna Hutchins had however been used only a few hours before the fatal shot by members of the team “to pass the time” by shooting cans of beer.
The very strict rules of the film industry in this area, however, prohibit any presence of live ammunition on a film set, precisely to avoid this type of accident.
Pressed to speak out by AFP on these accusations, the production of “Rust” had not reacted Monday afternoon.
“Cold” weapon?
The investigators were able to clarify the course of the events after hearing the various witnesses.
According to the first statements, Alec Baldwin “was sitting on a bench in a church setting, and he was practicing drawing” in front of the camera.
Director Joel Souza was looking over the shoulder of the 42-year-old cinematographer, who was shot in the torso on Thursday and was pronounced dead hours later.
Assistant director Dave Halls had announced that the weapon was “cold”, that is to say, supposed to be empty and therefore harmless in cinema jargon. Joel Souza, however, said “he is not sure” that the weapon underwent another security check after the team’s lunch break. In any case, a shot was fired, an accident that sent shock waves through Hollywood.
According to investigators, Dave Halls said he did not know that live ammunition was in the weapon.
It was Hannah Gutierrez Reed, a 24-year-old movie gunsmith, who had prepared the gun, and placed it on a cart with two other weapons.
The chief electrician of the shooting, Serge Svetnoy, blasted on Facebook a tragedy caused by “negligence and lack of professionalism”, considering that she was too young to “be a professional in weapons”.
“To save money, we sometimes hire people who are not fully qualified for a complicated and dangerous job,” he accuses. Guillaume Delouche, gunsmith for Hollywood for nearly 30 years, said he was “very surprised” that someone of this age and with only two films to his credit, “could be the chief gunsmith on a film which must contain a lot of combat scenes with firearms ”.