Crew walked off set in dispute over safety concerns days before fatal shooting by Baldwin during filming of Rust
Hours before actor Alec Baldwin fired a fatal gunshot from a prop gun he had been told wassafe,acameracrewforthe movie he was filming walked off the job in protest at conditions and production issues that included safety concerns.
Disputes in the production of the Western film Rust began almost from the start in early October and culminated with seven crew members walking off several hours before cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, 42, was killed.
The crew members had expressed their discontent with issues ranging from safety procedures to their accommodation, according to one of those who left.
At a rehearsal on the film set at the Bonanza Creek Ranch outside Santa Fe on Thursday, the gun Baldwin used was one of three that a firearms specialist, known as the armourer, had set on a cart outside the building where a scene was being rehearsed, according to court records.
The documents indicate that an assistant director, Dave Halls, grabbed a prop
gun off the cart and handed it to Baldwin, indicating incorrectly that the weapon did not contain live rounds by yelling “cold gun”.
When Baldwin – who was also a producer on Rust – pulled the trigger, he unwittingly killed Ms Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza, who was standing behind her.
Baldwin, 63, has described the killing as a “tragic accident”.
A 911 call that alerted authorities to the shooting hints at the panic on the film set, as detailed in a recording released by the Santa Fe County Regional Emergency Communications Centre.
“We had two people accidentally shot on a movie set by a prop gun, we need help immediately,” script supervisor Mamie Mitchell told an emergency dispatcher. “We were rehearsing and it went off, and I ran out, we all ran out.”
New Mexico workplace safety investigators are examining whether film industry standards for gun safety were followed during production of Rust.
The Los Angeles Times, citing two crew members, reported that five days before the shooting, Baldwin’s stunt double accidentally fired two live rounds after being told the gun did not have any ammunition.