Accident on the set of Rust.

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Be careful what you take in regarding the initial reporting. When they say "live rounds" you think "ball rounds" or ammunition that law enforcement or the military uses, but it could mean a round meant to give a 'pop sound' and sparks.

I rarely believe what reporters report right off the bat. All want to scoop each other in order to either sell papers, or have you go to the site and check it out and post your uninformed opinion for the world to see. Most are opportunists.

I remember back in the 80's when I was in the Canadian Air Force when one of our CF-18's crashed. When the reporters asked about the CF-18 general specifications, they were told by the military that the fighter had several computers in it, much like modern day fighters do. But back then all the reporters started speculating that the reason for the crash is because the pilot had to operate seven computers while he was flying. Uh...no. Most of those systems operate autonomously and are there to provide information to the pilot. He doesn't have 7 keyboards, mice and screens that he has to sit in front of. But days after, all the reporters already had it in their minds that the reason for the crash is that the pilot was overworked with operating 7 computers and they wouldn't listen to reason.

Never believe the first reports of anything. Wait a few hours to a few days and that is when cooler heads and more of the truth comes out. Most times...

TazMan2000
 
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When they say "live rounds" you think "ball rounds" or ammunition that law enforcement or the military uses, but it could mean a round meant to give a 'pop sound' and sparks.
What you just described is basically a blank. A live round refers to any cartridge that's complete: bullet, shell casing, power, and primer. A noise & spark generating round is not considered a live round because no bullet comes out of the barrel of the gun when you pull the trigger with the round chambered.
 
What you just described is basically a blank. A live round refers to any cartridge that's complete: bullet, shell casing, power, and primer. A noise & spark generating round is not considered a live round because no bullet comes out of the barrel of the gun when you pull the trigger with the round chambered.

This is what I'm saying. To you and me, and the entire world, a live round is something that has a bullet, casing, propellant and primer. A blank may be considered a live round in the movie industry, since it actually has explosives in it. I'm not familiar with movie making terminology, but I'm sure there is a 'lingo' that doesn't always reflect military protocol.
What I'm saying is that some reporters get a tiny snippit of information and they tend to fill in all the blanks with crap and hype.

TazMan2000
 
Live rounds are never allowed on set.

Let's also take into consideration possibilities. A strike was voted for then averted. Is it possible the experts in question left the show and new people took over?

With single action and western firearms in general the legalities are blurred. Rules and regulations vary from state to state and county to county. This happened in New Mexico. I've been on sets in other states that were indeed like to wild west with things that wouldn't fly in CA.

In regards to the Crow. Up to that point it was common for a prop master to handle and source prop weapons. One of the major players in film prop weapons used to be a prop master.

I'm eager to see the facts in this one.
 
Everyone loves to speculate. I'm one of them. But lets be careful of what we speculate about. Speculating whether Revell will release a crappy model is far different from accusing a notable actor/director of manslaughter. The facts are that one person is dead, and one injured and it was on the movie set of Rust.

The investigation will reveal the truth and who is at fault.

TazMan2000
 
As said earlier, in movie lingo ‘live’ means loaded with blanks. Blanks can obviously be quite dangerous. Cold means unloaded. They don’t use what you or I consider a LIVE round.

Added: there is an article regarding the lack of safety on the set with three accidental discharges. Gads.
 
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This is why Phasers are the only weapon props that should be on a set.

A grain of wheat lightbulb igniting never hurt anyone.

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Surely with the sophistication of airsoft guns these days, they can't create one too stimulate real firearms nowadays to prevent this catastrophe? And have some kind of mechanism that stimulates the kick back as well?
 
Grew up with some of the things my father brought back from WW2 along with some very strict rules regarding guns that have not changed. As robstyle & TazMan2000 point out the facts are the key in this event, since they appear to be different from the couple of similar industry tragedies. I feel for the individuals involved.
 
Hours before actor Alec Baldwin fatally shot a cinematographer on the New Mexico set of “Rust” with a prop gun, a half-dozen camera crew workers walked off the set to protest working conditions.

The camera operators and their assistants were frustrated by the conditions surrounding the low-budget film, including complaints about long hours, long commutes and collecting their paychecks, according to three people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to comment.

Safety protocols standard in the industry, including gun inspections, were not strictly followed on the “Rust” set near Santa Fe, the sources said. They said at least one of the camera operators complained last weekend to a production manager about gun safety on the set.

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Production was shut down Friday at Bonanza Creek Ranch near Santa Fe, N.M., where a woman was accidentally killed and a man injured during the filming of “Rust.”
(Roberto E. Rosales / Associated Press)
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Three crew members who were present at the Bonanza Creek Ranch set on Saturday said they were particularly concerned about two accidental prop gun discharges.

Baldwin’s stunt double accidentally fired two rounds Saturday after being told that the gun was “cold” — lingo for a weapon that doesn’t have any ammunition, including blanks, two crew members who witnessed the episode told the Los Angeles Times.

“There should have been an investigation into what happened,” said the crew member. “There were no safety meetings. There was no assurance that it wouldn’t happen again. All they wanted to do was rush, rush, rush.”

A colleague was so alarmed by the prop gun misfires he sent a text message to the unit production manager. “We’ve now had 3 accidental discharges. This is super unsafe,” according to a copy of the message reviewed by The Times.


“The safety of our cast and crew is the top priority of Rust Productions and everyone associated with the company, " Rust Movie Productions said in a statement. “Though we were not made aware of any official complaints concerning weapon or prop safety on set, we will be conducting an internal review of our procedures while production is shut down. We will continue to cooperate with the Santa Fe authorities in their investigation and offer mental health services to the cast and crew during this tragic time.”

The tragedy occurred Thursday afternoon during filming of a gunfight that began in a church that is part of the old Western town at the ranch. Baldwin’s character was supposed to back out of the church, according to production notes obtained by The Times. It was the 12th day of a 21-day shoot.

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Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, on the set of “Archenemy” last year, was huddled around a monitor lining up her next camera shot on Thursday when she was fatally shot with a prop gun by “Rust” star Alec Baldwin in New Mexico.
(Adam Egypt Mortimer / Associated Press)
Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was huddled around a monitor lining up her next camera shot when she was accidentally killed by the prop gun fired by Baldwin.

The actor was preparing to film a scene in which he pulls a gun out of a holster, according to a source close to the production. Crew members had already shouted “cold gun” on the New Mexico set. The filmmaking team was lining up its camera angles and had yet to retreat to the video village, an on-set area where the crew gathers to watch filming from a distance via a monitor.

Instead, the B-camera operator was on a dolly with a monitor, checking out the potential shots. Hutchins was also looking at the monitor from over the operator’s shoulder, as was the movie’s director, Joel Souza, who was crouching just behind her.

Baldwin removed the gun from its holster once without incident, but the second time he repeated the action, ammunition flew toward the trio around the monitor. The projectile whizzed by the camera operator but penetrated Hutchins near her shoulder, then continued through to Souza. Hutchins immediately fell to the ground as crew members applied pressure to her wound in an attempt to stop the bleeding.

Late Friday, the Associated Press reported that Baldwin was handed a loaded weapon by an assistant director who indicated it was safe to use in the moments before the actor fatally shot a cinematographer, according to court records. The assistant director did not know the prop gun was loaded with live rounds, according to a search warrant filed in a Santa Fe County court.

The person in charge of overseeing the gun props, known as the armorer, Hannah Gutierrez Reed, could not be reached for comment. The 24-year-old is the daughter of veteran armorer Thell Reed and had recently completed her first film as the head armorer for the movie “The Old Way,” with Clint Howard and Nicolas Cage.

Earlier in the day, the camera crew showed up for work as expected at 6:30 a.m. and began gathering up their gear and personal belongings to leave, one knowledgeable crew member told The Times.

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“Rust” director Joel Souza was wounded in the accidental shooting.
(Jim Spellman / Getty Images)
Labor trouble had been brewing for days on the dusty set at the Bonanza Creek Ranch near Santa Fe.

Shooting began on Oct. 6 and members of the low-budget film said they had been promised the production would pay for their hotel rooms in Santa Fe.

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But after filming began, the crews were told they instead would be required to make the 50-mile drive from Albuquerque each day, rather than stay overnight in nearby Santa Fe. That rankled crew members who worried that they might have an accident after spending 12 to 13 hours on the set.

Hutchins had been advocating for safer conditions for her team, said one crew member who was on the set and was tearful when the camera crew left.

“She said, ‘I feel like I’m losing my best friends,’” recalled one of the workers.

As the camera crew — members of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees — spent about an hour assembling their gear at the Bonanza Creek Ranch, several nonunion crew members showed up to replace them, two of the knowledgeable people said.

One of the producers ordered the union members to leave the set and threatened to call security to remove them if they didn’t leave voluntarily.

“Corners were being cut — and they brought in nonunion people so they could continue shooting,” the knowledgeable person said.

The shooting occurred about six hours after the union camera crew left.



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Halyna Hutchins was killed on the set of ‘Rust’ by a prop gun. Our developing coverage
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The Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office said deputies were dispatched to the Bonanza Creek Ranch movie set, where filming was underway for the western “Rust,” after calls to 911 at 1:50 p.m. Thursday. Baldwin was starring in the movie in addition to serving as one of the producers.

No charges have been filed, but the Sheriff’s Office said that “witnesses continue to be interviewed by detectives.”

Baldwin said Friday he’s “fully cooperating with the police investigation” into the incident.

“There are no words to convey my shock and sadness regarding the tragic accident that took the life of Halyna Hutchins, a wife, mother and deeply admired colleague of ours,” Baldwin wrote Friday in a series of tweets.

Production has been halted on the low-budget movie.

In an email to its members, Local 44 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, a union that represents prop masters, said the shot that killed Hutchinsand injured Souza on Thursday was “a live single round.”



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MOVIES
Alec Baldwin says he’s cooperating with investigation of fatal shooting on ‘Rust’ set
Oct. 22, 2021
“As many of us have already heard, there was an accidental weapons discharge on a production titled Rust being filmed in New Mexico,” said the North Hollywood-based local. “A live single round was accidentally fired on set by the principal actor, hitting both the Director of Photography, Local 600 member Halyna Hutchins, and Director Joel Souza. Both were rushed to the hospital,” the email said. The New Mexico-based crew were represented by a different local.

A source close to union said Local 44 does not know what projectile was in the gun and clarified that “live” is an industry term that refers to a gun being loaded with some material such as a blank ready for filming.

Bonanza Creek Ranch has been a popular filming location for more than 60 years. The first movie to film there was “The Man From Laramie,” starring Jimmy Stewart. It also was the set for the classic “Blazing Saddles,” “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” and the popular TV show “Longmire.”

One of the financiers for “Rust” is Santa Monica-based lender BondIt Media Capital, founded in 2013 by Matthew Helderman and Luke Taylor. According to its website, BondIt finances movies through instruments including gap loans, bridge loans and tax credit financing.

The company has primarily financed low-budget movies including the Bruce Willis actioner “Hard Kill,” the Charlotte Kirk horror flick “The Reckoning” and the upcoming Robert De Niro film “Wash Me in the River,” directed by Randall Emmett.

BondIt was particularly active during the COVID-19 pandemic, stepping in to fill financing gaps as independent producers struggled to find backing for films during the public health crisis.
 
I just read that the assistant director yelled that it was a cold gun as they were starting to rehearse for the scene.
The assistant director or armorer didn't respond to a request for a comment.
I'm thinking it might be one of them, maybe both that didn't check the gun and make sure it was actually safe for a rehearsal.
These writers keep saying a "live" gun....too many people will think they were using actual ammunition, not just blanks, which can still be deadly of course.
 
It's very interesting now that an actual projectile has been confirmed. No conspiracy. Just wonder what said projectile was whether it be a dislodged bullet from a prop casing or something that randomly lodged itself into the barrel. I've seen prop shotguns with 1/4 blanks do damage when debris ended up in the barrel all happening during filming. Meaning weapon was properly handled but debris during the take ended up in the barrel prior to firing.
 
That will be interesting to find out if it was something stuck in the barrel or if it was an actual bullet someone got in the gun, and if so, why.
 
...I just don't know how production will ever continue after a devastating accident like this on set. This is not "The Crow" from 30 years ago. Baldwin, even if found to be not at (partial) fault, will undoubtedly suffer with the mental anguish and some form of PTSD for some time. I see serious counseling in his future. Never say never, but I would not be surprised if he hangs up his acting career. The director was injured, the cinematographer was killed.

The stigma alone this movie would have if ever completed and released, in today's social environment, I think would not be worth the expense to the production company and distributor.

My guess is the production company will eventually file their insurance claim and cease production altogether.

As blewis17 mentions, there is going to be 'mental anguish and PTSD' for everyone involved with this film, more so for the people on set, and especially for the ones directly involved. Hopefully the investigation of this tragic incident brings positive change to the industry. That is the only good that can come from this.

TazMan2000
 
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