A lot of uncertainty still surrounds the accidental shooting and death of cinematographer Halyna
Hutchins on the set of the Alec Baldwin film "Rust."
It's a very important topic in Hollywood right now, due to both the tragic death of Hutchins
and the debate over how effective safety measures are on film sets.
Either way, there's been a lot of reports on what exactly happened on the set of "Rust,"
from the news that prop guns may have been used for target practice to an official affidavit
that reveals members of the camera crew walked off set prior to the shooting.
The tragedy has also brought into focus the larger issue of penny-pinching producers cutting
corners on productions by hiring inexperienced - and often non-union - staff in critical
roles.
When prop masters and armorers don't have the proper training or experience, the stage
is pretty well set for a terrible accident like this one.
To be clear, this is a fast-moving story, and the details are still coming into focus
as a variety of authorities continue the investigations and more staffers close to the project talk
to the press.
We don't yet know exactly which - if any - dangerous corners were cut on the set of "Rust," but
the few details that have come to light suggest an accident like this one might have been
foreseeable.
A new exclusive report by The Wrap claims that the armorer, who is the person in charge
of prop weapons on a film set, for "Rust," Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, was at the center of
controversy over gun safety on her last project, the Nicolas Cage film "The Old Way."
If the report is to be believed, there's a lot of information here to suggest that Gutierrez-Reed
may have been far too inexperienced for the job.
According to The Wrap, which cited "The Old Way" key grip Stu Brumbaugh, armorer Hannah
Gutierrez-Reed irresponsibly fired weapons near the cast and crew and even drew the ire
of star Nicolas Cage at one point.
The actor allegedly yelled at Gutierrez-Reed, saying that she blew out his eardrums.
Soon after that, Brumbaugh apparently demanded that she be fired from "The Old Way" for being
too inexperienced and unsafe at her job.
He recalled,
"I told the AD, 'She needs to be let go.
After the second round I was pissed off.
We were moving too fast.
She's a rookie."
It's also important to note, however, that The Wrap reached out to an unnamed producer
to confirm elements of Brumbaugh's testimony, and this producer refuted the information
saying,
"I have no such recollection of this event on our set.
I asked my partners the same.
The details on some of these accounts specifically when it pertains to 'The Old Way' have been
blown out of proportion."
So, once again, while this would be very big news if proven true, there's not enough quite
yet to say either way.
There's a chance that might change, however, as the investigation into the shooting on
"Rust" continues.
One thing's for certain, no one in Hollywood wants to be anywhere near this incident - even
vicariously - and it doesn't take much of a leap to imagine an unnamed producer might
want to stamp out any suggestion that they didn't perform their due diligence before
hiring an armorer to handle prop weapons on set.
It may be some time before we have clear picture of everything that transpired on the "Rust"
set that fateful day, but anecdotal evidence - much of it well reported by credible outlets
- is beginning to mount that at least some liberties were taken with best practices for
handling prop firearms on set, and that poorly trained or inexperienced staff may have been
hired to help the movie's bottom line.
It's the latest tragic data point in an unfortunate industry trend of producers from the financial
services sector applying too much of a market-capitalist mentality to the process of filmmaking.
Movies have always been a business, and businesses have to turn a profit, but profits don't always
have to be maximized to the detriment of working conditions and good conscience.
"Rookie," non-union production staffers are less expensive, but the cost of realizing
those financial savings is an elevated risk to the cast, crew, and - ultimately - the
production itself.
The incident on "Rust" is just about the worst imaginable repercussion of this kind of corner-cutting.
If Brumbaugh's account of what transpired with Hannah Gutierrez-Reed on the set of "The
Old Way" proves credible, it will be one more piece of evidence that may stack up to massive
civil liability for "Rust" producers - and potentially even criminal charges.
None of that can ever bring Halyna Hutchins back, but severe legal consequences in this
case might at least make penny-pinching producers think twice about cutting corners when it
comes to safety on set.