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Thread: Rust: accidental shooting of Halyna Hutchins

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  1. #1
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    Tragic

    Good statement from Brandon Bruce Lee's twitter. Brandon was the first person I thought of when I heard this news.

    Sheriff: Alec Baldwin Discharged Prop Firearm That Left Cinematographer Dead and Director Wounded
    An investigation is underway and no charges have been filed, according to the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Department.

    BY TRILBY BERESFORD, RYAN PARKER
    OCTOBER 21, 2021 4:56PM

    JIM SPELLMAN/GETTY IMAGES

    A prop firearm was discharged by Alec Baldwin on the New Mexico movie set of Rust, killing a cinematographer and wounding the director, according to the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Department.

    Director of photography Halyna Hutchins, 42, died Thursday after being injured when the prop gun was “discharged” by Baldwin, the Western’s producer and star. Hutchins had been transported by helicopter to the University of New Mexico Hospital, where she was pronounced dead, the sheriff’s department said.

    A spokesperson from Rust said in a statement: “The entire cast and crew has been absolutely devastated by today’s tragedy, and we send our deepest condolences to Halyna’s family and loved ones. We have halted production on the film for an undetermined period of time and are fully cooperating with the Santa Fe Police Department’s investigation. We will be providing counseling services to everyone connected to the film as we work to process this awful event.”

    The Ukraine-born, Los Angeles-based DP graduated from the American Film Institute Conservatory in 2015. Her credits included indie films Archenemy, Blindfire and The Mad Hatter.

    The second victim was the film’s director, Joel Souza, 48, who was taken by ambulance to Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center. Juan Ríos, a spokesman for the sheriff’s office, told THR on Thursday evening that he was in critical condition, However, on Friday morning, Ríos said his condition is unclear and referred to the hospital for that information.

    An update on the investigation will likely not occur until next week, Ríos said, as interviews are ongoing and evidence is being collected. Baldwin was interviewed Thursday by investigators at the sheriff’s department, Ríos said.

    Directors Guild of America president Lesli Linka Glatter said in a statement that the DGA is “incredibly saddened” to hear of Hutchins’ death and Souza’s injuries. “We await further details and a full investigation. Our hearts go out to Halyna’s family, to Joel, and to everyone impacted.”

    Ríos told The Hollywood Reporter that an active investigation was underway and no charges have been filed.

    “According to investigators it appears that the scene being filmed involved the use of a prop firearm when it was discharged,” the sheriff’s department said in a statement. “Detectives are investigating how and what type of projectile was discharged.”

    Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to the Bonanza Creek Ranch set near Santa Fe, New Mexico, at 1:50 p.m. MT after a 911 call indicated an individual had been shot on set.

    A spokesperson from the production said the “accident” involved the misfire of a prop gun with blanks. “Production has been halted for the time being. The safety of our cast and crew remains our top priority,” the initial statement said.

    The Local 600 labor union, of which Hutchins was a member, said in a statement, “The details are unclear at this moment, but we are working to learn more, and we support a full investigation into this tragic event. This is a terrible loss, and we mourn the passing of a member of our Guild’s family.”

    Firearm accidents on Hollywood sets are extremely rare, but do occur. In 1993, Brandon Lee, the son of famed martial arts star Bruce Lee, was accidentally shot and killed on the set of The Crow by another actor who fired a revolver that had been improperly prepared.

    In 1984, actor Jon-Erik Hexum was involved in a prop gun incident on the set of CBS’ Cover Up. During a break in filming, Hexum accidentally shot himself while playing with the firearm, not realizing a blank was still in the prop gun. He died from his injuries six days later at the age of 26.

    The official Twitter page for Brandon Bruce Lee posted: “Our hearts go out to the family of Halyna Hutchins and to Joel Souza and all involved in the incident on “Rust”. No one should ever be killed by a gun on a film set. Period.”

    In Rust, Baldwin stars as infamous Western outlaw Harland Rust. When his estranged grandson is convicted of an accidental murder and sentenced to hang, Rust travels to Kansas to break him out of prison. The two fugitives must then outrun U.S. Marshal Wood Helm and bounty hunter Fenton “Preacher” Lang.

    The film also stars Frances Fisher, Jensen Ackles and Travis Fimmel.


    Oct. 22, 7:51 a.m. Updated to reflect Joel Souza’s condition is unknown.
    10:10 p.m. Updated with statement from the DGA.
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
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  2. #2
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    Ernie Hudson

    I'm splitting this off from the Stunts-injuries-amp-deaths into its own indie thread - Rust: accidental shooting of Halyna Hutchins - and tagging our Brandon-Lee thread too because this triggers that memory so much.

    Ernie Hudson Heartbroken Over ‘Rust’ Shooting, Says He Can’t Watch ‘The Crow’
    The iconic actor, who was in the Brandon Lee film, agrees with those who are calling for Hollywood to ban real guns from sets after the latest tragedy.

    BY RYAN PARKER

    OCTOBER 25, 2021 12:27PM

    Ernie Hudson in 'The Crow' EVERETT COLLECTION

    Ernie Hudson, like the rest of Hollywood, is reeling from last week’s deadly shooting on the set of Rust where a gun discharged by Alec Baldwin killed director of photography Halyna Hutchins and wounded the film’s director.

    The iconic Ghostbusters star knows firsthand about the devastation left in the wake of such a tragedy as he appeared in The Crow, the 1994 film in which Brandon Lee was fatally wounded.

    Hudson told The Hollywood Reporter on Monday he was heartbroken for Hutchins’ family and for Baldwin, whom he has known for years after the pair worked on 1985’s Love on the Run.

    “It just doesn’t make any sense,” Hudson tells THR. “It bought back a lot of memories of Brandon. We go on, we keep moving forward — but there is always that space in your life. You’re heartbroken. You have no control, but you still have to process it and how do you do that? I am just so heartbroken that anything like that can happen again.”


    Brandon Lee in ‘The Crow’ EVERETT COLLECTION
    The son of legendary martial artist and film star Bruce Lee, Brandon Lee was fatally wounded in March 1993 on The Crow set by a prop gun. He was 28. His sister, Shannon, told THR last week that the family supports a growing initiative to ban real guns from sets. Hudson says he also supports that move.

    “If that’s the answer, then I would like to see real guns removed from sets,” Hudson concurs. “I don’t think it is necessary to have real guns and live rounds on the set. We have the technology now to put flashes in without the [blank cartridge] rounds. I thought we found a way to do it safer.”

    The Rust investigation is ongoing and Hudson notes all the facts need to come out. However, he can speak to being on productions that felt rushed. “The problem is when they start cutting budgets and they start being in a hurry,” he says. “That is what happened on The Crow. They were pushing to get it done. You put lives at risk.”

    Hudson also expressed grief for Baldwin, nothing that the late Michael Massee was devastated after he fired the gun that killed Brandon Lee. “There is nothing worse than something like that happening,” Hudson says. “I remember Michael, his life was never the same.”


    Rochelle Davis and Hudson in ‘The Crow’ EVERETT COLLECTION
    In The Crow, Hudson plays police Sgt. Daryl Albrecht, who responds to the scene where Brandon Lee’s Eric Draven and Shelly Webster (Sofia Shinas) are brutally murdered on Oct. 30, the informal Devil’s Night. Draven rises from the grave with mystical powers a year later to avenge their deaths and seeks the help of Sgt. Albrecht.

    “I can’t watch The Crow,” Hudson admits. “It breaks my heart, and I can’t get past it. So much of it was action stuff, but Brandon and I got a chance to act together.”

    Noting that one of his favorite scenes in the film is an emotional moment when Draven comes to visit Sgt. Albrecht after he arises from the grave, Hudson laments: “He was such a great guy. And you think about all the potential.”
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
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  3. #3
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    Hannah Gutierrez-Reed must take responsibility

    Armorer on Baldwin set said guns are dangerous only 'in the wrong hands'
    “I think the best part about my job is just showing people who are normally kind of freaked out by guns, like, how safe they can be,” Hannah Gutierrez-Reed said on a podcast.

    Police at the Bonanza Creek Ranch film set near Santa Fe, N.M., on Friday. Roberto E. Rosales / Albuquerque Journal via Zuma
    Oct. 25, 2021, 2:56 PM PDT
    By Andrew Blankstein and Corky Siemaszko
    Guns are “not really problematic unless put in the wrong hands,” the rookie armorer on the set of Alec Baldwin’s ill-fated movie “Rust” said last month on a podcast.

    “I think the best part about my job is just showing people who are normally kind of freaked out by guns, like, how safe they can be,” the armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, said on the Voices of the West podcast. “A lot of it, for me, is just being able to show the world, like, you know, guns are awesome.”

    Gutierrez-Reed, 24, a former model, is at the center of a death investigation after actor Alec Baldwin, using a gun that was supposed to be safe, shot and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set Thursday and badly wounded director Joel Souza.

    Police in New Mexico, where the Western was being shot at the Bonanza Ranch outside Santa Fe, have not charged anybody.

    The deadly shooting has raised questions about whether, in the age of computerized visual effects, there is a need for real armaments, along with calls to outlaw potentially lethal firearms on movie sets.


    Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. Swen Studios via Reuters
    Gutierrez-Reed, who could not be reached for comment and who has made no public statements about the deadly mishap, was in charge of weapons on the set of “Rust.”

    In the podcast, she said her father, stuntman Thell Reed, began teaching her about guns and gun safety when she was 16. But she acknowledged that she was still learning the ropes.

    “I think loading blanks is like the scariest thing to me, because I was, like, ‘Oh, I don’t know anything about it,’” she said.

    As the armorer on the set, Gutierrez-Reed was supposed to make sure that the guns being used in “Rust” were secure and safe to use, industry experts have said.

    After Baldwin shot Hutchins and Souza, Gutierrez-Reed “took the spent casing out” and handed the prop gun over to investigators, according to a newly released affidavit from the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office.

    Nine spent shell casings and three black revolvers were among the 28 items that were seized from the set, the sheriff’s office said.

    Gutierrez-Reed “set up” the prop gun and gave it to assistant director David Halls, who, in turn, handed it to Baldwin during a rehearsal and yelled “cold gun” to indicate that there were no live rounds in it, according to warrants released by the sheriff’s office.

    Baldwin was sitting in a pew on the set of a church and “practicing a cross draw” when the gun went off, according to warrants.

    In the podcast, Gutierrez-Reed said she had not always intended to become an armorer.

    “I used to do modeling a bit, and then I decided modeling didn’t really have any sustenance and people didn’t really see you for anything more than face value, so I decided to get more into this line of work,” she said.

    Gutierrez-Reed said that before she joined the “Rust” crew, she had just wrapped up her first job as armorer on the set of “The Old Way,” which stars Nicolas Cage as a retired gunslinger.

    “I was really nervous about it at first, and I almost didn’t take the job, because I wasn’t sure if I was ready, but doing it, like, it went really smoothly,” she said. “It was a really badass way to start off a really long and cool career, I’m hoping.”


    Andrew Blankstein
    Andrew Blankstein is an investigative reporter for NBC News. He covers the Western United States, specializing in crime, courts and homeland security.

    Corky Siemaszko
    Corky Siemaszko is a senior writer for NBC News Digital.
    This is the ultimate fail in terms of gun safety.
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
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  4. #4
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    Eliza Hutton, Brandon Lee's fiancée

    Eliza Hutton Breaks Silence 28 Years After Fiancé Brandon Lee's Death in the Wake of Rust Shooting
    Eliza Hutton, Brandon Lee's fiancée, is urging "those in positions to make change to consider alternatives to real guns on sets"
    By Dan Heching
    October 25, 2021 11:04 PM

    Eliza Hutton is coming forward for the first time since her fiancé Brandon Lee died following last week's tragic accidental shooting on the set of the Alec Baldwin film Rust.

    Brandon died at 28 in a similar accident in March of 1993 on the set of his film The Crow. Hutton, 57, tells PEOPLE that the accident on the New Mexico set of Rust that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and wounded director Joel Souza is yet another "avoidable tragedy."

    "Twenty eight years ago, I was shattered by the shock and grief of losing the love of my life, Brandon Lee, so senselessly. My heart aches again now for Halyna Hutchins' husband and son, and for all those left in the wake of this avoidable tragedy," Hutton tells PEOPLE.

    "I urge those in positions to make change to consider alternatives to real guns on sets," she says.

    Also this week, Hutton posted a photo of herself with Brandon taken in Venice, Italy, in October 1992 when they got engaged to her private Instagram account.

    "There's no such thing as a prop gun," she wrote in the caption.


    CREDIT: COURTESY ELIZA HUTTON
    The pair had planned their wedding for April 17, 1993, after The Crow was scheduled to wrap production. Lee, son of martial arts star Bruce Lee, was killed on set on March 31st during the final week of production.

    Brandon was killed when another actor shot him using a gun that was supposed to have only been loaded with blanks.


    Brandon Lee, Eliza Hutton | CREDIT: COURTESY ELIZA HUTTON
    On Friday, Brandon's sister Shannon Lee shared a statement in the wake of the Rust shooting.

    "Our hearts go out to the family of Halyna Hutchins and to Joel Souza and all involved in the incident on Rust. No one should ever be killed by a gun on a film set. Period💔" she wrote on her brother's Twitter page, where she tweets on behalf of his legacy.

    As investigations into what happened on the Rust set continue, a Change.org petition has been launched calling for the ban on all real firearms on film and television productions.

    The petition was created by Bandar Albuliwi, a director who graduated from the American Film Institute Conservatory, where Hutchins was also an alumnus.

    "Halyna was a talented cinematographer and a good friend whose life was taken tragically due to a real firearm being used on set," Albuliwi said. "We need to make sure this never happens again. There is no excuse for something like this to happen in the 21st century. Real guns are no longer needed on film production sets. Change needs to happen before additional talented lives are lost."

    On Monday evening, the petition had been signed by almost 29,000 people out of the 35,000 requested signatures.
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    Gene Ching
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  5. #5
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    Hannah Gutierrez-Reed must take responsibility

    People
    Rust Armorer Sues Ammunition Supplier for Allegedly Providing 'Both Dummy and Live' Rounds on Set
    Alexia Fernández
    Wed, January 12, 2022, 6:36 PM·3 min read
    In this article:
    Halyna Hutchins
    Ukrainian-American cinematographer and investigative journalist
    Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the armorer at the center of the Rust shooting investigation, is suing the ammunition supplier for the film.

    Gutierrez-Reed, 24, claims Seth Kenney's company PDQ Arm and Prop, LLC supplied a mix of live and dummy ammunition prior to the fatal shooting that took the life of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, according to court documents obtained by PEOPLE.

    In the complaint filed on Wednesday in New Mexico, Gutierrez-Reed said Kenney's company "distributed and sold prop ammunition which presented an unreasonable risk of injury, without warning of the risks that could have been avoided."

    Furthermore, the armorer said in the documents that the ammunition supplier "prepared dummy ammunition cartridge boxes from surplus ammunition stockpiles that comprised of both dummy and live ammunition."

    PEOPLE has reached out to Kenney and the Sante Fe District Attorney's Office for comment.

    "These false representations caused live rounds to be introduced on set, resulting in a foreseeably catastrophic outcome, and causing damages to persons on the Rust set," the complaint continued. "The introduction of live rounds onto the set, which no one anticipated, combined with the rushed and chaotic atmosphere, created a perfect storm for a safety incident."

    Gutierrez-Reed is asking for a jury trial, as well as damages and attorneys' fees.


    Halyna Hutchins
    James Gourley/Shutterstock Halyna Hutchins

    On Dec. 2, Kenney told Good Morning America that the live rounds found by investigators on the set of the film were not supplied by him or his company.

    "It's not a possibility that they came from PDQ or from myself personally," Kenney said at the time.

    ​​In early November, Gutierrez-Reed's attorneys, Jason Bowles and Robert Gorence told Today they were looking into the possibility that someone intentionally "sabotaged" the set before Alec Baldwin accidentally shot and killed Hutchins with a prop gun.

    Bowles said Gutierrez-Reed loaded a bullet into the prop gun that killed Hutchins from a box of dummy rounds and only found the live round later.

    He explained, "We don't know whether that live round came from that box. We're assuming it did. We're assuming someone put the live round in that box."

    Bowles told Today anchor Savannah Guthrie that someone placing a live round in the dummy box would "have to have the purpose of sabotaging the set," adding, "There's no other reason you would do that." The lawyer did not address the possibility that the live round could have been placed in the dummy box unintentionally.

    When Guthrie asked if his theory was that "somebody intentionally placed a live round into a box of dummies for the purpose of it ending up in a weapon that would be used on set," Bowles said he and Gorence did not have a theory yet, but were considering sabotage as "one of the possibilities."


    set of rust
    Jae C Hong/AP/Shutterstock Set of 'Rust'

    "I believe that somebody who would do that would want to sabotage the set, want to prove point, want to say that they're disgruntled, they're unhappy," Bowles said. "And we know that people had already walked off the set the day before."

    Gutierrez-Reed previously said "no live ammo is ever kept on set," a statement later rebutted by Sante Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza, who told Today that was incorrect.

    Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

    "That was a live round that struck and killed Ms. Hutchins, so that's not an accurate statement as far as I'm concerned," he said.

    At a press conference, Mendoza said investigators discovered "500 rounds of ammunition" on the set, including, "a mix of blanks, dummy rounds and what we are suspecting are live rounds."
    Seems like a CYA move. The armourer should've know which were blanks and which were live.
    Gene Ching
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  6. #6
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    strange

    Alec Baldwin Describes Return to Set for First Time Since ‘Rust’ Shooting as “Strange”
    Baldwin opened up about his return to work on the U.K. set of independent feature '97 Minutes' — his first job since the death of Halyna Hutchins on Oct. 21, 2021 — in an Instagram video.

    BY ABBEY WHITE

    FEBRUARY 9, 2022 3:01PM

    Alec Baldwin MEGA/GC IMAGES

    Alec Baldwin described the experience of returning to a movie set as “strange” while recalling the death of Rust director of photography Halyna Hutchins briefly in a four-minute video diary posted to his Instagram.

    Back working for the first time in nearly four months, the actor recorded and published the video diary Tuesday. In it, he reflects on his first day of filming the independent film about a hijacked plane that will crash in 97 minutes, which is how long it will take for fuel to run out.

    “We had our first day today, which is always … tricky,” he began. “I don’t work as much as I used to. I said this before maybe, but you go to work and you forget what you’re supposed to do. I just was like, ‘What do you do? What is acting or any of this nonsense I ended up doing?’ It’s strange to go back to work.”

    Immediately after, Baldwin references the last time he was on a set — filming Rust on its Bonanza Creek Ranch set in Santa Fe, where he discharged a firearm with live rounds that accidentally struck and killed Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza. The incident has been under investigation by the Santa Fe Sheriff’s department and district attorney, with the most recent development seeing Baldwin hand over his cellphone to investigators a month after a search warrant had been issued for the device.

    “I haven’t worked since October 21 of last year when this horrible thing happened on the set of this film and the accidental death of our cinematographer Halyna Hutchins,” he said, solemnly. “I still find that hard to say. But I went back to work today for the first time in three and a half months.”

    The former 30 Rock star went on to say that the experience of working on movies is “nearly always the same,” pointing specifically to how frequently he works on projects where “everbody’s young compared to me.” That’s especially true, he said, on independent films, which both 97 Minutes and Rust are.

    “Everyone’s young, especially in independent film, where there are good people, there are very good people, but everybody’s chasing all the good people and a lot of the best ones get gobbled up by projects that have more money,” Baldwin said. “When you have a very limited budget, you’re filling positions with people who are good, but they’re probably early in their career and … young.”

    He went on to say that while everyone is young, “the crew of movies are very hardworking,” before pointing to the filming conditions he and his current film crew were working under.

    “They’re very hardworking, on their feet all day — in an unheated building, I might add,” he said. “The building had no heat. It was tricky to try to get everything done. Many, many independent films now can be very tricky in terms of giving the amount of work you have from the time you have are definitely not in sync.”

    While Baldwin didn’t directly reference anyone while speaking about young crewmembers and, as he sees it, their tendency to work on independent films, the comment could be related to Rust, whose armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed had only had a few projects under her belt when she joined the production. She, like Baldwin, is currently under investigation by the sheriff’s department and district attorney for the shooting death of Hutchins.

    In January, Gutierrez-Reed sued Seth Kenney, the man whose company supplied ammunition to the Rust production, in a claim that he introduced live rounds on set.
    Gotta be so many PTSD issues for him.
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
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