Some Showrunners Are Vowing to Stop Using Any Ammunition on Set After Tragedy on ‘Rust’ Set
Last week’s tragic accident on the set of Alec Baldwin’s movie Rust is inspiring some showrunners to change the way they shoot scenes with prop guns.
After Thursday’s tragedy on the New Mexico movie set of Rust, when Baldwin was inadvertently given a gun with a real round instead of a blank. He fired the weapon, and the shot struck and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and wounded director Joel Souza, the handling of ordnance on set is being re-examined by the people in charge of production on many shows and movies.
Thursday’s incident is still under investigation, but the incident inspired The Boys showrunner Eric Kripke and The Rookie chief Alexi Hawley to pledge that the weapons on their sets will be completely harmless.
Kripke tweeted that he will use visual effects in place of prop guns with blank charges going forward.
Kripke tweeted, “Someone hurt or killed on my set is my worst nightmare. Sending love to Halyna Hutchins’ family, Jensen Ackles, cast & crew of Rust. I’m so sorry. In her memory, a simple, easy pledge: no more guns with blanks on any of my sets ever. We’ll use VFX muzzle flashes. Who’s with me?
The Boys star Jensen Ackles, also in the cast of Rust, was scheduled to be on the set at the time of the incident.
The Boys VFX supervisor Stephan Fleet responded, “I’m with you! And I’ll be doing those muzzle flashes! I also don’t understand why a totally fake handgun with spring loaded kick, a slide, shell discharge, vapor smoke, and an LED flash light hasn’t been invented for filming yet. There’s stuff kinda like this, but not this exactly… should be industry standard.”
Joining Kripke is Alexi Hawley, who is the showrunner for ABC’s cop drama The Rookie, which stars Nathan Fillion.
“Any risk is too much risk,” Hawley said in a memo to his crew on Friday, announcing that there will be “no more live weapons on the show.” “Live” refers to any weapon that discharges a round, even if it is just a blank cartridge.
Craig Zobel, director of the Kate Winslet HBO series Mare of Easttown, tweeted that “there’s no reason to have guns loaded with blanks or anything on set anymore.”
He continued that such weapons “should just be fully outlawed. There’s computers now. The gunshots on Mare of Easttown are all digital. You can probably tell, but who cares? It’s an unnecessary risk.”
The Suicide Squad and Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn also weighed in, saying that there was no excuse for such accidents, especially after actor Brandon Lee was killed in a prop gun mishap back in 1993.
“The rules were changed after Brandon died,” Gunn said in a tweet. “Sadly, more rules will not help if the rules aren’t followed, which is usually how accidents happen on set. Producers, directors, actors & entire crews need to be hardcore about making sure all safety protocols are followed at all times… There is no way what happened yesterday on Rust could have happened if every single person followed the rules. That’s not me placing blame at any individual’s doorstep; I don’t know all the facts. But with everyone following proper protocol it could not have occurred.”