Safety was our No1 aim
Gun rules central to shooting of Smother after Rust set death
SMOTHER star Niamh Walsh has revealed the cast were hyper aware of safety precautions when it came to guns on set following the tragedy on the film Rust.
The plot takes another twist on tonight’s episode of the hit RTE drama when a watermelon explodes having taken a bullet meant for one of the main characters.
Niamh, who plays Jenny Ahern, said protocols were strictly adhered to after the death of Halyna Hutchins on the set of the Alec Baldwin movie.
She said: “We never actually shot at the watermelon as it’s rigged to explode when we do the kickback.
“There is nothing in the gun except for a blank.
“Everyone was standing eight feet back and we all had ear plugs because it was very loud.
“It certainly brought to mind how important all that stuff is.” Meanwhile her new love interest Dean Fagan said he had no problem swapping the cobbles of Weatherfield for the rugged Irish coastline. The actor is relishing his role as prodigal son Finn having played mechanic Luke Britton on Coronation Street.
The 29-year-old said he acclimatised to Co Clare quite quickly and even got used to the local accent.
He added: “It didn’t take me too long to get used to the accent. It only took about a week to understand the local lingo.” Finn throws a spanner in the works for Val Ahern and the family as their bid to cover up who murdered her husband
continues. Dean said filming in the seaside town of Lahinch was his first time back in Ireland in a decade. He added: “I went to Cork about 10 years ago as a student. A friend of mine, his mum lives there in a lovely part of the countryside, and I stayed for two or three days.
“It was more of a drinking holiday so a lot of it was very hazy. We had a lot of Guinness.”
Smother continues on RTE One tonight at 9.30pm.