Johnson pledges to discontinue using real guns on productions
Dwayne Johnson’s new movie for Netflix, “Red Notice,” stars three of the biggest celebrities on the planet — Johnson, Ryan Reynolds and Gal Gadot — and is one of many Hollywood films that feature firearms for the sake of action-packed storylines.
“Red Notice,” which launches on the streaming service Nov. 12, followed very careful safety protocols on the set, as most productions do. But after the tragic death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on Alec Baldwin’s film “Rust,” Johnson, a Freedom High School graduate, is pledging to stop using real firearms on all projects that are produced by his company, Seven Bucks Productions.
“First of all, I was heartbroken,” Johnson began, speaking to Variety at Wednesday night’s premiere of “Red Notice” in Los Angeles.
“We lost a life. My heart goes out to her family and everybody on set. I’ve known Alec too for a very long time.”
Johnson, who has to handle firearms in “Red Notice,” says he will only use rubber guns on his sets and will enforce that rule with any studio with which he is working.
“I can’t speak for anyone else, but I can tell you without an absence of clarity here that any movie that we have moving forward with Seven Bucks Productions — any movie, any television show or anything we do or produce — we won’t use real guns at all,” Johnson said to Variety. “We’re going to switch over to rubber guns, and we’re going to take care of it in post.
“We’re not going to worry about the dollars. We won’t worry about what it costs.”
Johnson recalled that after news broke confirming that Hutchins had died on the “Rust” set, he was on the phone with his team within a couple of hours to discuss what changes his company needed to make to ensure complete safety moving forward.
“I love the movie business,” Johnson said. “There are safety protocols and measures that we have always taken in the movie business and we take very seriously. These sets are safe sets, and we’re proud of that.
“But accidents do happen. And when something like this happens of this magnitude, [that is] this heartbreaking, I think the most prudent thing and the smartest thing to do is just pause for a second and really re-examine how you’re going to move forward and how we’re going to work together.
“Any movie we do that Seven Bucks does with any studio, the rule is we’re not going to use real guns. That’s it.”
Johnson is not just one of the most famous people in the world but also one of the most respected and beloved figures in the business, who carries a lot of weight and brings megabucks to the box office.
In other words, Johnson’s endorsement to end the use of real firearms can kick off a domino effect of safe decision-making across Hollywood productions.