A movie weapons supervisor is facing up to 18 months in prison for the fatal shooting of a cinematographer by Alec Baldwin on the set of the Western film “Rust,” with her sentencing scheduled for Monday in a New Mexico state court.
Movie armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was convicted in March by a jury on a charge of involuntary manslaughter in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and has been held for more than a month at a county jail on the outskirts of Santa Fe.
Baldwin, the lead actor and co-producer for “Rust,” was pointing a gun at Hutchins when the revolver went off, killing Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza.
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Prosecutors blamed Gutierrez-Reed for unwittingly bringing live ammunition onto the set of “Rust” where it was expressly prohibited and for failing to follow basic gun safety protocols. After a two-week trial, the jury deliberated for about three hours in reaching its verdict.
Baldwin is absolutely worth going after. Guy is a producer in the set who flagrantly broke protocol any greenhorn actor would have drilled into their heads first day on set. He’s liable as an employer to provide a safe work environment and the people who broke the rules were all people hired to positions meant to enforce safety on the set.
If a regular someone broke the rules he broke on any set I have worked they would have had their ass fucking handed to them. Rule one on a set, DON’T TOUCH anything that is not directly related to your department. If anyone saw a 1st AD with a weapon in hand for any reason on a set his job would be on the line… Yet this producer took it from him without asking questions. Anyone who saw that happen would immediately know the set safety is fucked… But who are you going to report to? Production? Not when the producer is the one breaking the rule . The Union? Nope- not a union show? Studio Hotline? Ha, not unless they are able to pull funding. OSHA? Good luck explaining the complex best practice of film work to some normie showing up on set.
Union and studio produced film has layers of folks who check producer power and mitigate the liability of individual producers on a set… But if there is no one who can stop you congrats! You are liable for what happens on your show.
In reality these people had two options. Work on an unsafe set where Production was obviously crooked and take the risk - or lose money and maybe risk their personal relationships to follow their instincts and leave. Baldwin put these people’s lives and careers at risk.