I DIDN’T THINK I WAS READY
Armourer told podcast she was ‘still learning’ how to handle weapons
THE woman in charge of guns on the film set where Alec Baldwin accidentally shot a cinematographer feared she was not ready for the job, it emerged last night.
Hannah Gutierrez-reed, 24, said she was “nervous” about working on a film set because she was “still learning”.
She told a podcast last month: “I was really nervous at first and almost didn’t take the job because I wasn’t sure I was ready.”
Gutierrez-reed, a former model and the daughter of legendary Hollywood armourer Thell Reed, added: “Dad’s been teaching me a little bit since I was 16. We got more into the stuff in the last couple of years.
“I think loading blanks was the scariest thing to me because I was like, ‘Oh, I don’t know anything about it’.
“But you know, he taught me that and eventually, by the time I was trying to figure out how to make a specific blank go when you want it to rather than it hitting the empty cylinders and everything, I figured that out on my own.
“He took me from being completely green and taught me everything I know so far... I am still learning.”
Baldwin, 63, shot Halyna Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza on Thursday after firing a vintage-style prop gun on the set of film, Rust.
In a grim twist worthy of Hollywood, the Western features a plotline about an accidental murder.
According to an affidavit filed in New Mexico, Gutierrez-reed laid out three prop guns on a cart outside the filming location. Assistant director Dave Halls grabbed one and shouted “cold gun” – which is code for declaring it safe – before handing it to Baldwin.
The affidavit stated Halls “did not know live rounds were in the prop gun”.
As police last night continued their investigation, it was reported that Baldwin was among the mourners who attended a private memorial to pay tribute to Halyna.
The distraught star stood side-by-side with 42-year-old Halyna’s husband, Matthew, and nine-year-old son Andros at the moving service in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on Friday.
Grief counsellors also reportedly attended the event, which was held ahead of a public memorial due to go ahead in the city last night. Matthew, who had been married to Ukrainianborn Halyna for 16 years, said: “Our loss is enormous.
“Halyna inspired us all with her passion and vision, and her legacy is too meaningful to encapsulate in words.”
In the moments after the tragedy Baldwin was seen asking crew members: “Why was I handed a hot gun?”
The actor was later pictured doubled over in shock and disbelief and sobbing outside a police station.
Since the shooting, reports have emerged that Halyna had been calling for safer working conditions to be introduced for her team.
There were claims of “a serious lack of safety meetings on the set” and that the prop gun had misfired twice in the previous week.
Camera crews working on the lowbudget film reportedly went on strike on Thursday to protest about the working conditions on set. Non-union workers were called in to replace them. One unnamed crew member claimed: “Corners were being cut. They brought in non-union people so they could continue shooting.”
A Gofundme appeal set up to raise money in memory of Halyna, who had also worked on Brit documentaries, had last night reached $93,786.