Firearms rookie paid just £6,000
THE armourer on Alec Baldwin’s ill-fated film Rust was being paid £5,860 for the month-long shoot – the minimum rate for the role.
Hannah Gutierrez-reed, 24, who was in charge of all firearms for only the second time on a movie, ranked among the lowest paid crew members on the entire set, according to trade magazine The Hollywood Reporter.
In contrast, veteran star Baldwin, 63, was expecting to bank $250,000 – about £185,000 – for starring in and co-producing the Western, which was halted after he accidentally shot dead cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, 42, and wounded director Joel Souza.
The magazine described Baldwin’s pay as modest by his standards and reflected the fact that the independent movie – which had a total budget of $7.28million (roughly £5.4million) – was a “passion project” of his.
Ms Gutierrez-reed’s remuneration was based on a minimum union rate for her limited experience and was “not unusual”, experts told the entertainment magazine. Last night, police were still investigating how live ammunition came to be in the vintage Colt 45 revolver, which Baldwin believed had been loaded only with blanks, on the Rust set in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
District Attorney Mary Carmackaltwies has warned criminal charges may follow the October 21 tragedy.
A flurry of civil lawsuits is also expected to hit the production, which is now “highly unlikely” to be completed. Late last week Halyna’s husband Matthew, an attorney himself, hired the services of top LA law firm Panish Shea Boyle Ravipudi, which specialises in wrongful death claims.
Lawyers representing Ms Gutierrezreed told the New York Times the period firearm was left unattended for two hours prior to the shooting – and could have been tampered with.
Meanwhile, Baldwin’s wife Hilaria says he has been left “utterly distraught” and fears he will develop post-traumatic stress disorder.