Rust (1 Viewer)

[jayembee]

Interesting bit regarding the armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed. This wasn't her first rodeo.

<<Earlier this week, the online publication The Wrap published a report citing sources from the set of "The Old Way" who said Gutierrez-Reed exhibited poor gun safety on set.

Stu Brumbaugh, who worked as a key grip on "The Old Way," told The Wrap that Hannah Gutierrez-Reed's behavior caused the film's star Nicolas Cage to scream at her and storm off set after she fired a gun near the cast and crew for the second time in three days without warning.

"Make an announcement, you just blew my fucking eardrums out," Cage yelled before walking off the set, Brumbaugh told the publication.

Two separate sources told The Daily Beast that there had been "considerably less attention" given to gun safety under Gutierrez-Reed's leadership on the film's set.

"There were several concerns I brought to production's attention," one source told the publication. "I have been around firearms my entire life and noticed some things that were not OK even with loaded blank firearms."

The Daily Beast went on to recount a story from a source who said Gutierrez-Reed loaded a gun during production and handed it to a child actor without properly checking the weapon. Filming was stopped by crew members who intervened and demanded that Gutierrez-Reed had properly checked the firearm, the publication reported.

"She was reloading the gun on the ground, where there were pebbles and stuff. We didn't see her check it, we didn't know if something got in the barrel or not," the report said.>>

Who is Hannah Gutierrez-Reed? The 'Rust' armorer who will be charged with involuntary manslaughter alongside Alec Baldwin

Gutierrez-Reed and Baldwin no longer face a firearm enhancement charge as of February 2023, which decreases their potential sentences by five years.

www.insider.com

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

<<Earlier this week, the online publication The Wrap published a report citing sources from the set of "The Old Way" who said Gutierrez-Reed exhibited poor gun safety on set.

One thing that the two movies have in common is that they were independently financed. I'm guessing that Hannah Gutierrez-Reed kept getting hired despite the bad reputation she was developing because she was cheap.

A horrible lesson in "you get what you pay for".

 

[Robert Crawford]

“After a thorough review of the evidence and the laws of the state of New Mexico, I have determined that there is sufficient evidence to file criminal charges against Alec Baldwin and other members of the ‘Rust’ film crew,” Carmack-Altwies said Thursday. “On my watch, no one is above the law, and everyone deserves justice.”

In charges set to be formally filed by the end of the month, Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed will each be charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter in Hutchins’ death. Assistant director David Halls reached a plea agreement with prosecutors for the charge of negligent use of a deadly weapon. The industry vet faces a suspended sentence and six months of probation, the D.A.’s office said today.

“If any one of these three people—Alec Baldwin, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed or David Halls—had done their job, Halyna Hutchins would be alive today. It’s that simple,” stated Andrea Reeb, the special prosecutor assigned to the case. “The evidence clearly shows a pattern of criminal disregard for safety on the ‘Rust’ film set. In New Mexico, there is no room for film sets that don’t take our state’s commitment to gun safety and public safety seriously,” Reeb added.

Alec Baldwin & ‘Rust’ Armorer To Face Criminal Charges Over 2021 Fatal Movie Shooting, Santa Fe D.A. Says

The long awaited decision by the Sante Fe DA on the Rust set shooting was finally made public early Thursday

deadline.com

Interesting case, I’m not sure how the prosecutor is going to be able to get a guilty verdict beyond a reasonable doubt against Baldwin. I guess it’s going to come down to which expert witnesses the jury is going to believe and accept their testimony.

 

[TravisR]

Interesting case, I’m not sure how the prosecutor is going to be able to get a guilty verdict beyond a reasonable doubt against Baldwin.

They're not and they know it. It's a performance (not to mention a waste of money, time and resources) to show that they're tough on everyone... even *gasp* Hollywood people.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

I have to imagine that procedures will change as a result of this tragedy; either the actors will be taught to check the weapons themselves, or the weapons expert will check the weapon in the actor's presence immediately before the actor takes possession of the weapon.

I actually think the end result of this will be the end of using any kind of gun that can fire anything at all on a set. I believe the guns will all be fake, they already use a lot of fake guns, and they will use an effect to make it look like they are being fired, add muzzle flash, all that. They do already do this as well, but now it will become the standard more than likely.

I'm sorry anybody who says that it's the actor's responsibility to check every single round in their gun has to watch this scene from T2.

Yes, I agree here. The actor should NEVER be part of the process of determining if a gun is safe. NEVER. This is why you hire an armorer, a property master, and have several levels before the gun is ever put into an actor's hands. Once it reaches the actor, it should have already been triple checked and completely confirmed the actor is not holding anything that can hurt someone.

This is not the same as handling a gun outside of a movie set, where the gun would be expected to hold live rounds. On a movie set, live rounds should never be there and never near your prop guns. This is a very simple deal, not complex, not difficult in any way. There is no way around this simple fact. No live rounds=nobody can get shot.

Quite frankly, there shouldn't have been any live ammunition anywhere on set.

And this is the strangest part, because really it is the most important part in how someone ended up dead. Oddly, the prosecutors say this is likely never to be known. They will never solve how the live rounds ended up there. This should be the priority, to solve how this happened. We know the armorer loaded the gun that Baldwin used. It was handed off to Hall the AD and he was the one that handed it to Baldwin.

So, we know the armorer, who is supposed to know the difference between a live round and a dummy, picked up these cartridges and loaded them into the gun. The explanation for this is that she opened a box of dummy rounds and inside the box, the company that packed these rounds, actually loaded some live rounds into a box that was supposed to be all dummies. This is supposedly how they are explaining how the live rounds got to the set, and how she mistakenly loaded them in the gun. I believe the company that made the dummy rounds is also being prosecuted here.

Honestly, that story does not add up to me. The armorer is supposed to check each round, dummies are made to be easily identified as dummies. She would have been able to tell, unless the claim here is that some dummies were made up to fool people because they still looked and sounded like a dummy.

To me the person or persons most responsible for this tragedy would be whomever it was that brought the live rounds onto the set and then, of course, whomever loaded them into the prop gun.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

They're not and they know it. It's a performance (not to mention a waste of money, time and resources) to show that they're tough on everyone... even *gasp* Hollywood people.

Well, there is a case to be made against the armorer, she loaded the gun. That's kind of huge. Due to the mystery of how live ammo got anywhere near prop guns, I think the property master is also in some trouble. Baldwin I don't think is going to be prosecuted for the shooting, which is why there are two counts against him, I believe, because one is in his role as a producer. In that capacity, because there were at least a couple other gun safety issues before the shooting occurred and he apparently did nothing to address them, well, they probably could get him for negligence there.

I don't know if this will make it into a court, probably not, but the way prosecutors do things is they usually charge as much as they can and then deal for what they can get. The likely can't get a conviction for negligence in the shooting, but as a producer, I don't know. He seems pretty at risk to be found guilty for that.

 

[TravisR]

Well, there is a case to be made against the armorer, she loaded the gun. That's kind of huge.

Oh yeah, the armorer is going to prison but Baldwin needs to worry about civil court, not criminal.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Oh yeah, the armorer is going to prison but Baldwin needs to worry about civil court, not criminal.

She, I would guess, is going to take a plea deal. My guess is that nobody will go to jail, but I suppose that depends on how far the prosecutors push it. Hall, the guy that handed the gun to Baldwin, is going to provide testimony for the prosecution. I assume this is going to be about seeing the armorer load the gun. I assume he was also close by when the gun went off, so he can provide testimony about how that occurred.

While the focus for most people seems to be that Baldwin was the one holding the gun when it went off, because this is an involuntary manslaughter case the primary goal is going to be to show negligence on the part of the parties involved.

I would say the primary negligence all occurred prior to the gun being handed to Mr. Baldwin but they are going to likely have a story of how Baldwin was part of that negligence because there were other incidents and complaints involving gun safety before the day that Ms. Hutchins was killed. I don't know what Baldwin did leading up to this but they are indicating he did nothing. If they can show he had knowledge of the gun safety issues that took place prior to the day Hutchins was killed, and they can show what he did or did not do in response to those issues...well...they likely can show he was negligent.

The involuntary manslaughter charges are criminal counts, so this is why it is possible he would also take a plea deal. If he does though, I would say his own lawsuits are over because if he takes a deal that is an admission he was negligent and partly responsible. Again, likely no jail time for him because I am sure all the plea deals in this case will be to avoid jail time.

If it goes to trial, anything can happen and then if he is found guilty the judge would determine his punishment. Which could be anything from a fine, community service, or some jail time...or a combination of these things.

I could see him going to trial if they tried to get him on negligence in the shooting itself, he probably has a very good chance to get off for that, on his role as producer, that's probably a 50/50 and he would be taking a big risk because a jury may find him guilty of negligence if they prove he knew about the other incidents and did nothing.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Oh yeah, the armorer is going to prison but Baldwin needs to worry about civil court, not criminal.

I think Baldwin has already settled a civil case with the victim's family.

 

[Wayne_j]

I think Baldwin has already settled a civil case with the victim's family.

Yes, Baldwin already settled with the husband of the victim.

 

[JoeStemme]

As someone who has handled guns on film & TV sets for over three decades, let me be clear that I think the Armorer, Gutierrez-Reed, is the one ultimately at fault. She is very very lucky to be "only" charged with involuntary manslaughter. What she did is criminal.
1. No matter how the live bullet got to the location it is her responsibility to safeguard that a live bullet never never never never get anywhere close to her blanks and dummy rounds - let alone her guns.
2. She is the only one responsible for loading the gun. She should have checked each and every round to make sure that they were indeed blanks and not real bullets.
3. She is the one responsible to make sure a loaded gun (with blanks OR dummies) never leaves her possession or sightline. Ever.
4. She let the gun out of her sight and allowed the A.D. Hall to grab it and hand it to Baldwin.
5. She is the one who is responsible for showing the Actor that the gun is "cold" and safe. Every single hand-off of the weapon must include her opening the barrel and showing what it is loaded with.
6. Since this was a rehearsal and not a 'take', the gun should NEVER have ANYTHING in it. Not even dummy rounds. Empty. Preferably, said gun should not even have been a real one for a rehearsal. Use a rubber or replica gun when at all possib.e
7. She claims she wasn't even in the physical set when the accident happened. See rules #1-6.
.
The media's attention is all on Baldwin, but, the real target should be Gutierrez-Reed. If the prosecutors can't find the source of the bullet, that does not absolve her of responsibility. Indeed, it should implicate her further in my book.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

As someone who has handled guns on film & TV sets for over three decades, let me be clear that I think the Armorer, Gutierrez-Reed, is the one ultimately at fault. She is very very lucky to be "only" charged with involuntary manslaughter. What she did is criminal.
1. No matter how the live bullet got to the location it is her responsibility to safeguard that a live bullet never never never never get anywhere close to her blanks and dummy rounds.
2. She is the only one responsible for loading the gun. She should have checked each and every round to make sure that they were indeed blanks and not real bullets.
3. She is the one responsible to make sure a loaded gun (with blanks OR dummies) never leaves her possession or sightline. Ever.
4. She let the gun out of her sight and allowed the A.D. Hall to grab it and hand it to Baldwin.
5. She claims she wasn't even in the physical set when the accident happened. See rules #1-4.
.
The media's attention is all on Baldwin, but, the real target should be Gutierrez-Reed. If the prosecutors can't find the source of the bullet, that does not absolve her of responsibility. Indeed, it should implicate her further in my book.

This is why I think they already gave Hall a deal. He supposedly, according to the stories, was standing there while she loaded the gun. So, they are going to use his testimony against her, I would say. Hall was the one that told everyone on the set the gun was safe when he gave it to Baldwin, so he was up the creek on that.

I think they are primarily going after Gutierrez-Reed as the one most culpable for the death.

The problem is going to be that because there were incidents before Ms. Hutchins was killed, likely someone should have/could have taken action and fired Gutierrez-Reed. Nobody did and in allowing her to continue in her job, well, they will charge whomever did not fire her/take action with negligence.

Probably precedent dictates nobody goes to jail but that will depend on the plea deals offered, how aggressive the prosecution is, and how harsh the judge that does the sentencing wants to be. The prosecution gets to make a sentencing recommendation, the judge does not have to go by it.

 

[Sam Favate]

Baldwin, at this point, has probably been on hundreds of movie and TV production sets. Unless the prosecutor can prove that it was his regular responsibility to inspect a prop before using it, I don’t see how their case against him succeeds. If he didn’t have that responsibility all those other times, you can’t credibly claim he should have this time.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Baldwin, at this point, has probably been on hundreds of movie and TV production sets. Unless the prosecutor can prove that it was his regular responsibility to inspect a prop before using it, I don’t see how their case against him succeeds. If he didn’t have that responsibility all those other times, you can’t credibly claim he should have this time.

For the shooting, I agree. For his role as a producer, I am not so sure. I think that may come down to his specific duties as a producer.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Baldwin, at this point, has probably been on hundreds of movie and TV production sets. Unless the prosecutor can prove that it was his regular responsibility to inspect a prop before using it, I don’t see how their case against him succeeds. If he didn’t have that responsibility all those other times, you can’t credibly claim he should have this time.

I think they're going to try to tie in his role as the film's producer as a reason why he was charged. My question then is if the film had other producers then why not charge them?

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

I think they're going to try to tie in his role as the film's producer as a reason why he was charged. My question then is if the film had other producers then why not charge them?

You would think they would. It might be because he was on set and the other producers were not. It may be that the previous gun safety incidents were raised with him because he was there and he did nothing.

 

[Robert Crawford]

You would think they would. It might be because he was on set and the other producers were not. It may be that the previous gun safety incidents were raised with him because he was there and he did nothing.

Anyhow, it will all come out in the trial. I'm done speculating and will let the legal process proceed accordingly. I'm out!

 

[John Sparks]

Interesting bit regarding the armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed. This wasn't her first rodeo.

<<Earlier this week, the online publication The Wrap published a report citing sources from the set of "The Old Way" who said Gutierrez-Reed exhibited poor gun safety on set.

Stu Brumbaugh, who worked as a key grip on "The Old Way," told The Wrap that Hannah Gutierrez-Reed's behavior caused the film's star Nicolas Cage to scream at her and storm off set after she fired a gun near the cast and crew for the second time in three days without warning.

"Make an announcement, you just blew my fucking eardrums out," Cage yelled before walking off the set, Brumbaugh told the publication.

Two separate sources told The Daily Beast that there had been "considerably less attention" given to gun safety under Gutierrez-Reed's leadership on the film's set.

"There were several concerns I brought to production's attention," one source told the publication. "I have been around firearms my entire life and noticed some things that were not OK even with loaded blank firearms."

The Daily Beast went on to recount a story from a source who said Gutierrez-Reed loaded a gun during production and handed it to a child actor without properly checking the weapon. Filming was stopped by crew members who intervened and demanded that Gutierrez-Reed had properly checked the firearm, the publication reported.

"She was reloading the gun on the ground, where there were pebbles and stuff. We didn't see her check it, we didn't know if something got in the barrel or not," the report said.>>

Who is Hannah Gutierrez-Reed? The 'Rust' armorer who will be charged with involuntary manslaughter alongside Alec Baldwin

Gutierrez-Reed and Baldwin no longer face a firearm enhancement charge as of February 2023, which decreases their potential sentences by five years.

www.insider.com

These film people just don’t just show up for a job, they have to beg and kiss ass for their next job…your next job is NOT guaranteed. Nepotism is alive and well in the movie industry and I’m sure it is in plenty of other industries. We used to talk amongst ourselves about how could you work all day kissing ass hoping to have another job.

i remember over hearing two young workers talking to each other One asked the other where his new pickup was. The other said, “I haven’t worked in 3 months…hence, not good enough kissing ass!

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

According to one of the articles posted in this thread:

the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office in late 2022 finally made public the FBI assisted police report which detailed the calamities that ensued before the shooting of Hutchins on October. 21, 2021.

The raw 551-page report cast suspicion on Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, among others on what appeared to be an openly problematic set. Dolly grip Ross Addiego, for instance, claimed to police that the armorer and her crew had issues that involved “negligent discharges”. The armorer was preparing one of six guns and one of the revolvers went off toward her foot. A few minutes later at the cabin set, a discharged gun went off that wasn’t announced, which would have been assistant director Dave Halls’ responsibility to announce, per Addiego.

Besides the live round in the gun in Baldwin’s hand, the FBI found five more rounds of live ammo on the Rust set, the report detailed.

The report also went into detail on other instances of guns going off on Rust.

Reese Price, a key grip, told authorities that “accidental discharge” occurred twice during the course of one day on set. “One of the accidental discharges occurred by ‘armorer girl’ who was messing with a gun,” Price told authorities.

So, their investigation turned up multiple instances with gun safety on the set.

 

[jayembee]

Yes, I agree here. The actor should NEVER be part of the process of determining if a gun is safe. NEVER. This is why you hire an armorer, a property master, and have several levels before the gun is ever put into an actor's hands. Once it reaches the actor, it should have already been triple checked and completely confirmed the actor is not holding anything that can hurt someone.

That seems reasonable, but I can say that if I was the actor in question, I wouldn't handle a gun given to me unless I knew it was safe. Personally, I don't like guns, I've never used one or even handled one, and I hope I never have any occasion to do so. But if I was an actor playing a character who has to handle a gun, I would make sure I knew everything I needed to know about handling a gun and gun safety, if for no other reason than my own peace of mind.