Giving live bullets to Baldwin on set was insane, says Clooney
GEORGE Clooney has launched an attack on the crew member who handed actor Alec Baldwin the gun loaded with a live bullet which killed Halyna Hutchins.
Clooney said he thought the assistant director could be at fault and said it was “insane” that there were live bullets.
Cinematographer Halyna, 42, died during filming of the western Rust in New Mexico last month when Baldwin, 63, unknowingly pulled the trigger. Director Joel Souza, 48, was wounded in the shoulder.
Clooney said: “I’ve been on sets for 40 years and the person responsible for the gun is either the prop person or armourer.
“Every single time I’m handed a gun, I look at it, I open it, I show it to the person I’m pointing it to, we show it to the crew.”
The actor and director added: “Every single take you hand it back to the armourer when you’re done. Everyone does it.
“Maybe Alec did that, I hope he did, but dummies are tricky because they look like real bullets.
“Maybe they weren’t even using that gun to do target practice, but they had live ammo with dummies. That is insane.
“Every time I get handed a six gun, you point it at the ground and you fire. You squeeze it six times. Always.”
Assistant director David Halls was given the weapon by armourer Hannah Gutierrez Reed, 24, and then announced “cold gun” on the set.
Speaking on the Marc Maron podcast, Clooney added: “I’ve never heard of the term ‘cold gun’. It’s infuriating.” He also told how he had never thought he would have children before meeting lawyer wife Amal in 2013 – and how it is tiring being a dad at 60 to twins Alexander and Ella, four.
He said: “The first moment I met Amal I thought, ‘This is the most extraordinarily smart, beautiful woman I’ve ever met’.”
Reflecting on having children, he said: “I was convinced that wasn’t my lot in life. I was comfortable with that. The hard part is being 60 and the sheer running around.”