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      The ‘Rust’ Shooting Spurs a Debate Over Using Guns on Film Sets

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      Alec Baldwin, who fatally shot a cinematographer with a gun he had been told was safe, has called for productions to hire police officers to monitor gun safety.Ever since the actor Alec Baldwin fatally shot the cinematographer of the film “Rust” last month with a gun he had been told, incorrectly, contained no live ammunition, the debate on the use of firearms on sets has been growing.Dwayne Johnson — the action star whose production company has made gun-filled films like the “Fast & Furious” spinoff “Hobbs & Shaw” — told Variety last week that the company would no longer use real guns on set. Dozens of cinematographers have signed a commitment not to work on projects using functional firearms. And a state lawmaker in California is drafting legislation that would ban operational firearms from sets.Mr. Baldwin, who was a producer of “Rust” as well as its star, weighed in this week with his own suggestion: that productions should hire police officers to monitor safety. Mr. Baldwin posted Monday on his Twitter and Instagram accounts: “Every film/TV set that uses guns, fake or otherwise, should have a police officer on set, hired by the production, to specifically monitor weapons safety.”But many in the film industry see the tragedy more as a problem of failing to adhere to existing firearms safety protocols than of requiring new, stricter protocols, and it is unclear if any of the proposed changes will have the momentum to come to fruition.The “Rust” shooting happened on Oct. 21, after an old-fashioned revolver was placed in Mr. Baldwin’s hands and proclaimed “cold,” meaning that it should not have contained any live ammunition. But it did: As Mr. Baldwin practiced drawing the gun for a scene, it fired a real bullet, law-enforcement officials said, killing the film’s cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins, and wounding its director, Joel Souza. There should not have been any live ammunition on the set at all, according to court papers, and law-enforcement officials are investigating how the gun came to be loaded with a lethal bullet.The backlash to Mr. Baldwin’s proposal to have police officers monitor on-set gun safety included comments from industry veterans like David Simon, the creator of “The Wire,” who tweeted that “the average cop is no more a totem of gun safety than a trained film armorer.”Then there are those calling to ban the use of functional guns — which are supposed to be loaded only with dummies or blanks — on sets. They say that technology has advanced to the point where special effects can be used to create the illusion of convincing gunfire. After the shooting in New Mexico, Craig Zobel, the director of the HBO whodunit “Mare of Easttown,” noted that all of the gunshots on that show were digital. But some studio executives say that there are times when visual effects are not sufficient, and that some actors struggle to make fake weapons that cannot even fire blanks appear convincing.The calls for systematic change are complicated by the fact that it is still unclear exactly why the tragedy occurred.Some crew members voiced concerns about the experience level of the film’s armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, whose lawyers have defended her training and commitment to safety and faulted the production. And the film’s first assistant director, Dave Halls, told a detective investigating the case that he should have checked the gun more thoroughly before Mr. Baldwin handled it, according to an affidavit. (His lawyer later said in a television interview that checking the gun was not his job.) But the central question, of how a live round got into the revolver in the first place, remains a mystery.Despite the remaining questions, the fatal shooting has spurred calls for change inside and outside of the film and television industry..css-1xzcza9{list-style-type:disc;padding-inline-start:1em;}.css-3btd0c{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:1rem;line-height:1.375rem;color:#333;margin-bottom:0.78125rem;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-3btd0c{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.5rem;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}}.css-3btd0c strong{font-weight:600;}.css-3btd0c em{font-style:italic;}.css-1kpebx{margin:0 auto;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.3125rem;color:#121212;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-1kpebx{font-family:nyt-cheltenham,georgia,’times new roman’,times,serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.375rem;line-height:1.625rem;}@media (min-width:740px){#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-1kpebx{font-size:1.6875rem;line-height:1.875rem;}}@media (min-width:740px){.css-1kpebx{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.4375rem;}}.css-1gtxqqv{margin-bottom:0;}.css-19zsuqr{display:block;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}.css-m80ywj header{margin-bottom:5px;}.css-m80ywj header h4{font-family:nyt-cheltenham,georgia,’times new roman’,times,serif;font-weight:500;font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.5625rem;margin-bottom:0;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-m80ywj header h4{font-size:1.5625rem;line-height:1.875rem;}}.css-12vbvwq{background-color:white;border:1px solid #e2e2e2;width:calc(100% – 40px);max-width:600px;margin:1.5rem auto 1.9rem;padding:15px;box-sizing:border-box;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-12vbvwq{padding:20px;width:100%;}}.css-12vbvwq:focus{outline:1px solid #e2e2e2;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-12vbvwq{border:none;padding:10px 0 0;border-top:2px solid #121212;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-rdoyk0{-webkit-transform:rotate(0deg);-ms-transform:rotate(0deg);transform:rotate(0deg);}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-eb027h{max-height:300px;overflow:hidden;-webkit-transition:none;transition:none;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-5gimkt:after{content:’See more’;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-6mllg9{opacity:1;}.css-qjk116{margin:0 auto;overflow:hidden;}.css-qjk116 strong{font-weight:700;}.css-qjk116 em{font-style:italic;}.css-qjk116 a{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:visited{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:hover{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}The governor of New Mexico, Michelle Lujan Grisham, said days after the shooting that “if the industry doesn’t come forward with very specific accountable safeguards, they should expect that we will.”Stephen Lighthill, the president of the American Society of Cinematographers and one of the prominent signatories of the statement — first reported by Variety — pledging to avoid operational firearms on sets, said that there had not been a wide-scale conversation around what the industry standard should be before the “Rust” shooting. Cinematographers including Bill Pope of “The Matrix” and Mandy Walker of “Mulan” have signed on to the pledge. The statement was posted with a hashtag:#BanBlanks, calling for an end to the use of blank cartridges, which contain gunpowder and paper wadding or wax.Another signatory, Reed Morano, a cinematographer who directed episodes of “The Handmaid’s Tale,” wrote in an Instagram post that she had once been hit by a blank at close range while operating a camera and wished she had thought more about large-scale change then.“How many more deaths do we need to mourn to prove that this must change?” Ms. Morano wrote.In California, a Democratic state senator who represents Silicon Valley, Dave Cortese, has been drafting legislation that would ban operational firearms from sets, which he said would effectively also ban blanks. Mr. Cortese said in an interview that the current system for safety protocols around handling guns on sets — guidelines outlined by unions and production companies — were not sufficient to ensure enforcement and accountability.“Right now what’s missing is the consequences,” he said. “Life and death is not an OK consequence of an error or omission.”Another legislative approach that is being considered, Mr. Cortese said, is a restriction on certain kinds of blanks. But his preference is for an outright ban on operational firearms and blanks, which he thinks can be replaced with special effects.“Some people say, ‘Why get rid of them?’” Mr. Cortese said. “Why have them? What’s the point in this day and age?”He said he has scheduled a meeting this week with members of the union local that represents armorers, and a bill would likely be considered in February.Those in the film industry who warn against making such rapid and wholesale changes to the industry say safety protocols are usually clear, and usually closely followed.Michael Sabo, who was propmaster on “The Wire” and oversaw the use of operational guns on the set, said he thinks nonfunctional guns would appear fake to viewers. Instead of a ban, he favors tighter restrictions on who can handle them.“You can have some of the best actors in the world, but if they pull a trigger and nothing happens, it’s not real,” he said. “That’s my biggest problem when they say we should ban guns on sets.”Brooks Barnes contributed reporting. More

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      Lawyers for ‘Rust’ Armorer Say Gun Was Briefly Unattended Before Shooting

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      The weapon handed to Alec Baldwin was left on a tray for several minutes, said the lawyers. Earlier, they had said it had been unattended for hours.The lawyers for the armorer on the film “Rust” — who has been under scrutiny since Alec Baldwin fatally shot the movie’s cinematographer with a gun that was not supposed to contain live ammunition — said in interviews on Wednesday that the gun had been left unattended for hours, but later corrected themselves to say it had only been several minutes. The gun left on a prop cart had been loaded with six dummy rounds by the armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who took the prop ammunition from a box labeled “dummies,” said one of her lawyers, Jason Bowles. Dummy rounds contain no gunpowder and are used to resemble bullets on camera.Earlier in the day, Ms. Gutierrez-Reed’s lawyers, Mr. Bowles and Robert Gorence, said in a television appearance and in an interview with The New York Times that the guns had been left unattended for about two hours on that day, including during the crew’s lunch break. Mr. Bowles later said they had been mistaken, and after consulting Ms. Gutierrez-Reed again, he said they had been locked up in a safe during lunch and had only been left unattended for a total of five to 10 minutes. Mr. Bowles said Ms. Gutierrez-Reed asked her colleagues to watch the cart when she wasn’t there but remembered seeing it left unattended at various points that day.At about 11 a.m. on Oct. 21, Ms. Gutierrez-Reed, 24, loaded three firearms that were going to be used later that afternoon during a filming session, including the .45 Long Colt, Mr. Gorence, said. “Was there a duty to safeguard them 24/7?” Mr. Gorence said. “The answer is no, because there were no live rounds.”Even though the gun was declared “cold,” meaning it was not supposed to contain any live ammunition, a live round was in the revolver that killed the movie’s cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins, and wounded the director, Joel Souza. The key question in the investigation is how it got there.According to an affidavit released last week by the Santa Fe County sheriff’s office, the firearms were secured inside a safe on a “prop truck” at lunchtime and Ms. Gutierrez-Reed told a detective that the head of the film’s prop department, Sarah Zachry, opened the safe after lunch and handed the guns to her..css-1xzcza9{list-style-type:disc;padding-inline-start:1em;}.css-3btd0c{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:1rem;line-height:1.375rem;color:#333;margin-bottom:0.78125rem;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-3btd0c{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.5rem;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}}.css-3btd0c strong{font-weight:600;}.css-3btd0c em{font-style:italic;}.css-1kpebx{margin:0 auto;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.3125rem;color:#121212;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-1kpebx{font-family:nyt-cheltenham,georgia,’times new roman’,times,serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.375rem;line-height:1.625rem;}@media (min-width:740px){#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-1kpebx{font-size:1.6875rem;line-height:1.875rem;}}@media (min-width:740px){.css-1kpebx{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.4375rem;}}.css-1gtxqqv{margin-bottom:0;}.css-19zsuqr{display:block;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}.css-m80ywj header{margin-bottom:5px;}.css-m80ywj header h4{font-family:nyt-cheltenham,georgia,’times new roman’,times,serif;font-weight:500;font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.5625rem;margin-bottom:0;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-m80ywj header h4{font-size:1.5625rem;line-height:1.875rem;}}.css-12vbvwq{background-color:white;border:1px solid #e2e2e2;width:calc(100% – 40px);max-width:600px;margin:1.5rem auto 1.9rem;padding:15px;box-sizing:border-box;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-12vbvwq{padding:20px;width:100%;}}.css-12vbvwq:focus{outline:1px solid #e2e2e2;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-12vbvwq{border:none;padding:10px 0 0;border-top:2px solid #121212;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-rdoyk0{-webkit-transform:rotate(0deg);-ms-transform:rotate(0deg);transform:rotate(0deg);}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-eb027h{max-height:300px;overflow:hidden;-webkit-transition:none;transition:none;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-5gimkt:after{content:’See more’;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-6mllg9{opacity:1;}.css-qjk116{margin:0 auto;overflow:hidden;}.css-qjk116 strong{font-weight:700;}.css-qjk116 em{font-style:italic;}.css-qjk116 a{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:visited{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:hover{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}Mr. Bowles said that after lunch, the film’s first assistant director, Dave Halls, asked for the firearm; Ms. Gutierrez-Reed then spun the gun’s cylinder and showed him all six rounds inside — which she believed to all be dummies. Mr. Halls then entered the set, a wooden church, while Ms. Gutierrez-Reed remained outside because there were not supposed to be any gun discharges happening inside that she needed to be present for, the lawyer said.“Hannah thinks the gun is secured,” Mr. Bowles said. “So she goes and does her prop duties.”In addition to working as the film’s armorer, Ms. Gutierrez-Reed was a props assistant, which made it difficult for her to focus fully on her job as armorer, her lawyers have said. She was a nonunion worker and was on the set for about 17 days before the shooting occurred.Ms. Gutierrez-Reed’s first job as head armorer was on a western called “The Old Way” starring Nicolas Cage, which was filmed this year, fueling concerns from colleagues on both that film and “Rust” who worried she was too inexperienced for the job.Her lawyers disputed those claims, saying Ms. Gutierrez-Reed trained with her father — the weapons expert Thell Reed — from a young age, and that she would like to continue being an armorer.“She’s a female, 24 years old in a male dominated profession,” Mr. Gorence said. “She wants to work at what she’s been trained to do.” More

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      Lawyer for ‘Rust’ Assistant Director Says Checking Gun Was Not His Job

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      The assistant director, Dave Halls, had previously told a detective that he should have more thoroughly checked the gun before Alec Baldwin handled it, according to an affidavit.A lawyer for the assistant director on the film “Rust” — who law-enforcement officials said had handed a gun to the actor Alec Baldwin before it discharged a live round that killed the cinematographer — said in an interview on Fox News Monday that it was “not his responsibility” to check the weapon.The assistant director, Dave Halls, had told a detective shortly after the fatal shooting that when the movie’s armorer had shown him the firearm to inspect its rounds, he “should have checked all of them, but didn’t,” according to an affidavit released by the sheriff’s office in Santa Fe County, N.M. According to another affidavit, Mr. Halls had called out “cold gun,” indicating that the gun did not contain any live rounds, and handed it to Mr. Baldwin.But Mr. Halls’s lawyer, Lisa Torraco, contended in an interview with Martha MacCallum on Fox News that the main responsibility for checking the gun was with the film’s armorer, claiming that it was “not the assistant director’s job.”“What I can tell you is that expecting an assistant director to check a firearm is like telling the assistant director to check the camera angle or telling the assistant director to check sound or lighting,” she said in the interview. “That’s not the assistant director’s job. If he chooses to check the firearm because he wants to make sure that everyone’s safe, he can do that, but that’s not his responsibility.”The film’s director, Joel Souza, who was wounded in the shooting, later told a detective that the firearms were checked by the film’s armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, and “then the firearm is checked by the assistant director Dave Halls, who then gives it to the actor using the firearm,” according to another affidavit released as part of a search warrant application.Larry Zanoff, a veteran armorer whose past films include “Django Unchained” and “Fantastic Four,” said it was common practice on a film set for the first assistant director to be one of the people responsible for inspecting guns on set, including checking to make sure a gun is empty before the armorer hands it to an actor.The shooting on the set of “Rust” killed Halyna Hutchins, an up-and-coming cinematographer.Since the shooting, public scrutiny has been largely focused on Mr. Halls and Ms. Gutierrez-Reed, because investigators reported that they handled the gun shortly before the incident. In an affidavit released by the sheriff’s department, a detective, Joel Cano, wrote that he learned that shortly before the shooting, Mr. Halls had picked the gun up from a gray cart that had been set up by Ms. Gutierrez-Reed and had taken it onto the set, where he handed it to Mr. Baldwin and yelled “cold gun.”.css-1xzcza9{list-style-type:disc;padding-inline-start:1em;}.css-3btd0c{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:1rem;line-height:1.375rem;color:#333;margin-bottom:0.78125rem;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-3btd0c{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.5rem;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}}.css-3btd0c strong{font-weight:600;}.css-3btd0c em{font-style:italic;}.css-1kpebx{margin:0 auto;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.3125rem;color:#121212;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-1kpebx{font-family:nyt-cheltenham,georgia,’times new roman’,times,serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.375rem;line-height:1.625rem;}@media (min-width:740px){#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-1kpebx{font-size:1.6875rem;line-height:1.875rem;}}@media (min-width:740px){.css-1kpebx{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.4375rem;}}.css-1gtxqqv{margin-bottom:0;}.css-19zsuqr{display:block;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}.css-m80ywj header{margin-bottom:5px;}.css-m80ywj header h4{font-family:nyt-cheltenham,georgia,’times new roman’,times,serif;font-weight:500;font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.5625rem;margin-bottom:0;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-m80ywj header h4{font-size:1.5625rem;line-height:1.875rem;}}.css-12vbvwq{background-color:white;border:1px solid #e2e2e2;width:calc(100% – 40px);max-width:600px;margin:1.5rem auto 1.9rem;padding:15px;box-sizing:border-box;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-12vbvwq{padding:20px;width:100%;}}.css-12vbvwq:focus{outline:1px solid #e2e2e2;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-12vbvwq{border:none;padding:10px 0 0;border-top:2px solid #121212;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-rdoyk0{-webkit-transform:rotate(0deg);-ms-transform:rotate(0deg);transform:rotate(0deg);}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-eb027h{max-height:300px;overflow:hidden;-webkit-transition:none;transition:none;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-5gimkt:after{content:’See more’;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-6mllg9{opacity:1;}.css-qjk116{margin:0 auto;overflow:hidden;}.css-qjk116 strong{font-weight:700;}.css-qjk116 em{font-style:italic;}.css-qjk116 a{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:visited{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:hover{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}Ms. Torraco disputed that chain of events in the Fox interview, saying, “This idea that my client grabbed the gun off of a prop cart and handed it to Mr. Baldwin absolutely did not happen.” Ms. Torraco said she has heard differing accounts from crew members on set.She did not directly give her client’s account. “My client went through something that was such a freak accident that he’s in shock,” Ms. Torraco said. “He’s having a hard time sorting out what happened.”Mr. Halls has not responded to several requests for comment; Ms. Torraco’s office declined to comment last week and has not responded to several requests for comment this week.Mr. Halls has been the subject of complaints on previous film productions. In 2019, Mr. Halls was fired from a movie, “Freedom’s Path,” after a gun discharged unexpectedly on set, causing a minor injury to a crew member, its production company said. Ms. Torraco did not respond to a question in the Fox interview about the previous complaints.No criminal charges have been announced in the case, but the district attorney overseeing it, Mary Carmack-Altwies, has said that her office has not ruled them out. As details have emerged around a series of errors on set that preceded the fatal shooting, how a live round got into the revolver that Mr. Baldwin handled remains unclear. More

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      How the Shooting on the Alec Baldwin Set Happened

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      A reconstruction of the events leading up to the fatal shooting of the cinematographer of “Rust,” the Alec Baldwin western, reveals a troubled production and a series of errors.SANTA FE, N.M — Alec Baldwin was on the set of his latest film, a low-budget western called “Rust,” working on a scene in which his character, a grizzled outlaw named Harland Rust, finds himself in a small wooden church, cornered by a sheriff and a U.S. Marshal, and decides to shoot his way out.Members of the small crew — including the director, cinematographer, cameraman and script supervisor — clustered around Mr. Baldwin inside the cramped, spartan set. The location is on a sprawling ranch outside Santa Fe, where Hollywood has been sending some of its biggest actors to don Stetsons and leather holsters to film westerns since 1955, when Jimmy Stewart made “The Man From Laramie” there.As light poured through the church’s windows, casting slanted rays in the dust that swirled over the pews, a shadow fell, and the crew had to adjust the camera angle.Then it was time for Mr. Baldwin, 63, who was seated on a pew, to practice his scene: a close-up of his hand as he slowly reached across his chest, drew a .45 Long Colt revolver from a shoulder holster and moved it toward the lens of the camera. The crew had been assured the gun was “cold,” meaning it held no live ammunition, according to court papers. In fact, investigators said, it was loaded with a live round. The error would prove fatal.Suddenly there was a loud noise that the director, Joel Souza, later told a detective “sounded like a whip and then loud pop” as the gun went off.The film’s cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins, 42, who was standing just feet away from Mr. Baldwin, to the left of the camera, grabbed her midsection and began to stumble backward, fatally struck in the chest by a lead bullet that investigators say passed through her and then wounded the film’s director, Mr. Souza, 48.The small church set where the scene was being filmed.Jae C. Hong/Associated PressThe questions of why there was any live ammunition on a movie set, where it is usually forbidden, and how a revolver loaded with a lethal round was placed in the hands of an actor, have started a complicated inquiry as law enforcement officials in New Mexico try to determine whether negligence on the set of “Rust” rose to the level of a crime. It has raised questions about firearm safety on sets, and whether proper procedures were followed on “Rust,” a troubled production where some members of the crew had quit before the shooting. Those core questions about the gun and ammunition remain unanswered. But a reconstruction of the events based on court papers and interviews with members of the production, crew and law enforcement officials makes it clear that a cascading series of mistakes led to the fatal moment just before 1:48 p.m. on Oct. 21.The fatal shooting has drawn intense news coverage. Journalists gathered Wednesday for a news conference at the Santa Fe County sheriff’s office.Nick Layman/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesA Delayed Start, After Trouble on the SetThe “Rust” crew started work before dawn, at about 6:30 a.m., and the crew gathered for breakfast at Bonanza Creek Ranch, where the movie was being filmed.But a major problem had emerged the night before: Six members of the camera crew had sent in resignation letters, citing issues including a lack of hotel accommodations and late paychecks.The tensions on the set came amid a broader national labor battle over working conditions in the industry. As “Rust” went into its second week of work on location in mid-October, the union that represents members of film crews was negotiating a new contract with production studios. The union, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, voted this month to authorize a nationwide strike if talks failed.Mr. Baldwin had arrived on the set about a week after filming had started in early October, and had spent time working on his horseback riding, rehearsing scenes and practicing with guns, including trying to simulate the recoil that is missing when live rounds are not used.Mr. Baldwin was not only the star of the film, which was expected to cost about $6.5 million to make, but one of its producers, along with Ryan Winterstern, Matt DelPiano, Anjul Nigam, Ryan Donnell Smith and Nathan Klingher.After the union’s leaders reached a tentative agreement with the studios, Mr. Baldwin posted an Instagram video — filmed from Santa Fe — in which he urged the rank-and-file members to strike if they were unhappy with the deal. Tensions on the set of “Rust” were building, though. And just days before the fatal shooting, at least two accidental gun discharges on set had put crew members on edge.At a vigil for Halyna Hutchins, the cinematographer who was killed, a sign alluded to the recent union negotiations over workplace safety.Kevin Mohatt/ReutersOne former member of the “Rust” crew said in an interview that he had been alarmed by the safety conditions on the production. “It was the most unorganized set I’ve ever seen,” said the crew member, who was granted anonymity because he feared that speaking out would harm his future work prospects.He said there had been concern about the limited experience of the film’s armorer, who was in charge of the weaponry on the set: Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who was 24 years old and just starting her career as a head armorer.Ms. Gutierrez-Reed’s lawyers, Jason Bowles and Robert Gorence, said in a statement Friday that Ms. Gutierrez-Reed was working two different jobs on the film, “which made it extremely difficult to focus on her job as an armorer.’’ (The production did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the statement.)The lawyers charged that “the whole production set became unsafe due to various factors, including lack of safety meetings,” and suggested that others had been responsible for previous accidental discharges on the set: “The first one on this set was the prop master, and the second was a stunt man after Hannah informed him his gun was hot with blanks.”.css-1xzcza9{list-style-type:disc;padding-inline-start:1em;}.css-3btd0c{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:1rem;line-height:1.375rem;color:#333;margin-bottom:0.78125rem;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-3btd0c{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.5rem;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}}.css-3btd0c strong{font-weight:600;}.css-3btd0c em{font-style:italic;}.css-1kpebx{margin:0 auto;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.3125rem;color:#121212;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-1kpebx{font-family:nyt-cheltenham,georgia,’times new roman’,times,serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.375rem;line-height:1.625rem;}@media (min-width:740px){#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-1kpebx{font-size:1.6875rem;line-height:1.875rem;}}@media (min-width:740px){.css-1kpebx{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.4375rem;}}.css-1gtxqqv{margin-bottom:0;}.css-16ed7iq{width:100%;display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;-webkit-box-pack:center;-webkit-justify-content:center;-ms-flex-pack:center;justify-content:center;padding:10px 0;background-color:white;}.css-pmm6ed{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;}.css-pmm6ed > :not(:first-child){margin-left:5px;}.css-5gimkt{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:0.8125rem;font-weight:700;-webkit-letter-spacing:0.03em;-moz-letter-spacing:0.03em;-ms-letter-spacing:0.03em;letter-spacing:0.03em;text-transform:uppercase;color:#333;}.css-5gimkt:after{content:’Collapse’;}.css-rdoyk0{-webkit-transition:all 0.5s ease;transition:all 0.5s ease;-webkit-transform:rotate(180deg);-ms-transform:rotate(180deg);transform:rotate(180deg);}.css-eb027h{max-height:5000px;-webkit-transition:max-height 0.5s ease;transition:max-height 0.5s ease;}.css-6mllg9{-webkit-transition:all 0.5s ease;transition:all 0.5s ease;position:relative;opacity:0;}.css-6mllg9:before{content:”;background-image:linear-gradient(180deg,transparent,#ffffff);background-image:-webkit-linear-gradient(270deg,rgba(255,255,255,0),#ffffff);height:80px;width:100%;position:absolute;bottom:0px;pointer-events:none;}.css-19zsuqr{display:block;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}.css-m80ywj header{margin-bottom:5px;}.css-m80ywj header h4{font-family:nyt-cheltenham,georgia,’times new roman’,times,serif;font-weight:500;font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.5625rem;margin-bottom:0;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-m80ywj header h4{font-size:1.5625rem;line-height:1.875rem;}}.css-12vbvwq{background-color:white;border:1px solid #e2e2e2;width:calc(100% – 40px);max-width:600px;margin:1.5rem auto 1.9rem;padding:15px;box-sizing:border-box;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-12vbvwq{padding:20px;width:100%;}}.css-12vbvwq:focus{outline:1px solid #e2e2e2;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-12vbvwq{border:none;padding:10px 0 0;border-top:2px solid #121212;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-rdoyk0{-webkit-transform:rotate(0deg);-ms-transform:rotate(0deg);transform:rotate(0deg);}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-eb027h{max-height:300px;overflow:hidden;-webkit-transition:none;transition:none;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-5gimkt:after{content:’See more’;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-6mllg9{opacity:1;}.css-qjk116{margin:0 auto;overflow:hidden;}.css-qjk116 strong{font-weight:700;}.css-qjk116 em{font-style:italic;}.css-qjk116 a{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:visited{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:hover{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}Even as the tensions brewed, one former “Rust” crew member said, Ms. Hutchins, the cinematographer, bonded with members of the crew, taking some out for sushi after a long day of work.“She was very passionate about what we were all doing,” he recalled.Ms. Hutchins told a friend, Dan Frenkel, over the phone that there were labor tensions but that she thought they could work through them.They could not. Most of the film’s camera crew resigned over issues that were not dissimilar to those that union leaders had been discussing at the bargaining table.Bonanza Creek Ranch, the site of filming, has been a location for movie westerns since the 1950s.Patrick T. Fallon/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesA Live Round Goes Undetected in Safety CheckThe production had been delayed, but replacement crew members were found, and the crew got back to work.They were working on the church scene when, at about 12:30 p.m., it was time for lunch. Production workers were shuttled in vans to a nearby catering tent. The guns and some ammunition were kept locked in a safe kept inside a white truck, but some ammunition remained unsecured on a cart outside.After lunch, the film’s prop master, Sarah Zachry, entered the combination to the safe and handed the guns to Ms. Gutierrez-Reed, who set them up on a gray cart outside the church.Both Ms. Gutierrez-Reed and Dave Halls, the first assistant director, were supposed to check the guns before handing them to actors.The protocol, Mr. Halls told a detective, was for Ms. Gutierrez-Reed to show him the gun so he could check its barrel for obstructions, and for her to then open the revolver and spin it so he could see the contents of its chambers. Then he would call out “cold gun,” signaling to the crew that the gun did not contain live rounds.When the cast and crew got back from lunch that day, Ms. Gutierrez-Reed showed Mr. Halls the .45 Colt revolver that Mr. Baldwin would handle. Mr. Halls told a detective that he recalled seeing three rounds inside but could not recall whether Ms. Gutierrez-Reed had spun the drum so he could check every chamber and every round.“He advised he should have checked all of them, but didn’t,” Detective Alexandria Hancock wrote.Both Ms. Gutierrez-Reed and Mr. Halls have been the subjects of complaints on previous productions.In 2019 Mr. Halls was fired from a movie, “Freedom’s Path,” after a gun discharged unexpectedly on set, causing a minor injury to a crew member, its production company said. Neither Mr. Halls nor his lawyers responded to requests for comment.Ms. Gutierrez-Reed, who had been learning how to be an armorer from her father, Thell Reed, a Hollywood weapons expert, was just getting started as a head armorer herself. In a recent podcast, she noted that she had just finished filming her first movie as head armorer, a western called “The Old Way” starring Nicolas Cage, and confided that “I almost didn’t take the job because I wasn’t sure if I was ready.”Stu Brumbaugh, a key grip on “The Old Way,” said in an interview that he had recommended Ms. Gutierrez-Reed be fired after he witnessed two unannounced discharges of weapons she was holding, startling others and in one case prompting an angry reaction from Mr. Cage. She was kept on, he said, which he saw as evidence of a broader problem in which producers try to cut costs by hiring less experienced crews. The incident was reported earlier by CNN.Lawyers for Ms. Gutierrez-Reed said that she had “never had an accidental discharge” during her career; they did not respond to follow-up questions about the incident on “The Old Way.”“Ultimately this set would never have been compromised if live ammo were not introduced,” her lawyers said of the “Rust” set. “Hannah has no idea where the live rounds came from.”A “Cold Gun” That Was Anything But“Cold gun!” Mr. Halls called out after lunch as he handed the revolver to Mr. Baldwin. Then, as Mr. Baldwin practiced his draw, the gun went off.Ms. Hutchins stumbled backward and was helped to the ground. Mr. Souza saw blood on her — and then noticed that he was bleeding, too. Ms. Hutchins said she could not feel her legs.Ms. Hutchins, a talented cinematographer who left a husband and son behind, was recalled at a candlelight vigil in Burbank, Calif. David Mcnew/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesMamie Mitchell, the movie’s script supervisor, ran out of the church, cellphone in hand, and dialed 911.“We’ve had two people accidentally shot on a movie set by a prop gun,” Ms. Mitchell told the dispatcher. “We need help immediately.”At 1:48 p.m., the sheriff’s department was dispatched to the ranch.Back on the set, Mr. Halls picked up the revolver from a church pew and handed it to Ms. Gutierrez-Reed, who opened it up to see what was inside. Mr. Halls told a detective that he saw at least four rounds with a hole in the side, which sometimes indicate that a round is a dummy. (Dummy rounds contain no gunpowder and are used to resemble bullets on camera.)But there was another round in the gun, he told a detective, one with just a casing, no cap, and which did not have the pierced hole.Real sheriff’s deputies, from Santa Fe County, rushed to the church set, with the first arriving at 2 p.m. Ms. Hutchins was flown by helicopter to a hospital in Albuquerque, where she was pronounced dead. Mr. Souza was taken to a closer hospital.Mr. Baldwin’s western costume was turned over for evidence, because it appeared to be stained with blood.A few days later, Sheriff Adan Mendoza of Santa Fe County would announce what had become increasingly clear: The gun had fired a live round, a lead bullet.The bullet was recovered from the director’s shoulder. Now the investigation is focused on how it got into the revolver.Simon Romero reported from Santa Fe, Julia Jacobs from New York and Graham Bowley from Toronto. Nicole Sperling contributed reporting. More

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      ‘Rust’ Armorer Has ‘No Idea’ How Live Rounds Got on Set, Lawyers Say

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      Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was in charge of firearms on the New Mexico film set where Alec Baldwin fatally shot a cinematographer with a gun that was not supposed to contain live ammunition.Lawyers for Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the armorer on the set of the film where Alec Baldwin fatally shot a cinematographer last week as he rehearsed with a gun he was told had no live ammunition, issued a statement Friday defending her adherence to safety protocols and saying that she did not know how live rounds wound up on the set in New Mexico.“Hannah has no idea where the live rounds came from,” Ms. Gutierrez-Reed’s lawyers, Jason Bowles and Robert Gorence, said in the first public statement on her behalf.In their statement, they charged that the set of the film, “Rust,” had been unsafe, and that Ms. Gutierrez-Reed, 24, had been hired to two positions on the film, “which made it extremely difficult to focus on her job as an armorer.’’ The production did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the statement. “She fought for training, days to maintain weapons, and proper time to prepare for gunfire but ultimately was overruled by production and her department,” it said. “The whole production set became unsafe due to various factors, including lack of safety meetings. This was not the fault of Hannah.”Either way, the production set was awash in guns and ammunition. In addition to the guns and ammunition that were recovered in an earlier search, detectives found more when they searched a white prop truck on the set, Detectives Alexandria Hancock and Marissa Poppell with the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office said in a court document released on Friday.The detectives recovered 12 revolvers; one rifle; a bandolier (a belt usually slung sash-style over the shoulder to hold ammunition); four cardboard boxes with miscellaneous ammunition; a spent blank; and one “45 Colt round.” Ms. Gutierrez-Reed — who also goes by Hannah Reed and Hannah Gutierrez — was relatively inexperienced as a head armorer. In a recent podcast she noted that she had just finished filming her first movie as head armorer in a western called “The Old Way,” starring Clint Howard and Nicolas Cage, that is set for release next year, saying, “I almost didn’t take the job because I wasn’t sure if I was ready.” Ms. Gutierrez-Reed has also come under scrutiny for reports of unexpected gun discharges on the sets of films that she has worked on..css-1xzcza9{list-style-type:disc;padding-inline-start:1em;}.css-3btd0c{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:1rem;line-height:1.375rem;color:#333;margin-bottom:0.78125rem;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-3btd0c{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.5rem;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}}.css-3btd0c strong{font-weight:600;}.css-3btd0c em{font-style:italic;}.css-1kpebx{margin:0 auto;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.3125rem;color:#121212;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-1kpebx{font-family:nyt-cheltenham,georgia,’times new roman’,times,serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.375rem;line-height:1.625rem;}@media (min-width:740px){#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-1kpebx{font-size:1.6875rem;line-height:1.875rem;}}@media (min-width:740px){.css-1kpebx{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.4375rem;}}.css-1gtxqqv{margin-bottom:0;}.css-16ed7iq{width:100%;display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;-webkit-box-pack:center;-webkit-justify-content:center;-ms-flex-pack:center;justify-content:center;padding:10px 0;background-color:white;}.css-pmm6ed{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;}.css-pmm6ed > 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header{margin-bottom:5px;}.css-m80ywj header h4{font-family:nyt-cheltenham,georgia,’times new roman’,times,serif;font-weight:500;font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.5625rem;margin-bottom:0;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-m80ywj header h4{font-size:1.5625rem;line-height:1.875rem;}}.css-12vbvwq{background-color:white;border:1px solid #e2e2e2;width:calc(100% – 40px);max-width:600px;margin:1.5rem auto 1.9rem;padding:15px;box-sizing:border-box;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-12vbvwq{padding:20px;width:100%;}}.css-12vbvwq:focus{outline:1px solid #e2e2e2;}#NYT_BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT_REGION .css-12vbvwq{border:none;padding:10px 0 0;border-top:2px solid #121212;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-rdoyk0{-webkit-transform:rotate(0deg);-ms-transform:rotate(0deg);transform:rotate(0deg);}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-eb027h{max-height:300px;overflow:hidden;-webkit-transition:none;transition:none;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-5gimkt:after{content:’See more’;}.css-12vbvwq[data-truncated] .css-6mllg9{opacity:1;}.css-qjk116{margin:0 auto;overflow:hidden;}.css-qjk116 strong{font-weight:700;}.css-qjk116 em{font-style:italic;}.css-qjk116 a{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-underline-offset:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:visited{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration-color:#326891;text-decoration-color:#326891;}.css-qjk116 a:hover{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}Her lawyers said that they wanted “to address some untruths that have been told to the media, which have falsely portrayed her and slandered her,” and said that safety was her “number one priority on set.”While some news accounts have suggested there might have been recreational shooting on the set, reports law-enforcement officials called “unconfirmed,” the lawyers said in their statement that the guns being used for the film could not have been used for such activities.“Hannah and the prop master gained control over the guns and she never witnessed anyone shoot live rounds with these guns and nor would she permit that,” the statement said. “They were locked up every night and at lunch and there’s no way a single one of them was unaccounted for or being shot by crew members.”In the week since the shooting at Bonanza Creek Ranch, which killed the movie’s director of photography, Halyna Hutchins, and wounded its director, Joel Souza, Ms. Gutierrez-Reed and the film’s assistant director, Dave Halls, have come under scrutiny, since they both handled the Colt .45 being used in the film before it was handed to Mr. Baldwin.The gun was declared “cold,” meaning it was not supposed to contain any live ammunition, according to court papers. But when it went off as Mr. Baldwin practiced drawing it, it fired a real bullet, which struck and killed Ms. Hutchins and wounded Mr. Souza, Sheriff Adan Mendoza of Santa Fe County said at a news conference Wednesday.Three former crew members on “Rust” said there were at least two accidental discharges on set on Oct. 16, days before the fatal shooting.In the lawyers’ statement, they said that Ms. Gutierrez-Reed “has never had an accidental discharge” during her career. They suggested that others had been responsible for the two accidental discharges on the “Rust” set: “The first one on this set was the prop master and the second was a stunt man after Hannah informed him his gun was hot with blanks.”“Hannah is devastated and completely beside herself over the events that have transpired,” the statement said.Nicole Sperling contributed reporting. More

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      Producers of Alec Baldwin Film Scrutinized After Shooting

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      The team behind “Rust” chose not to get an insurance package often carried by productions, which some in Hollywood said was a sign of cutting corners.LOS ANGELES — Independent film productions that cost more than a few million dollars often carry two forms of insurance in case something goes wrong. Forgoing full coverage, Hollywood veterans say, is less a sign of optimism than corner cutting.Alec Baldwin’s now-infamous “Rust” had only one.Chubb, the insurance giant, sold Mr. Baldwin and his five fellow “Rust” producers a package covering a wide range of potential problems, including damage to equipment (a cracked camera lens), injury to cast and crew (a broken wrist after a fall) and the worst-case situation of a death on the set. What the “Rust” producers did not secure is a completion bond — an often-expensive package that serves as a type of umbrella policy should anything horrific happen and the production can’t be completed. Such a policy costs about 2 percent of a film’s budget.“Producers who don’t want to bond are only doing so to save money,” said Randy Greenberg, a producer, film finance consultant and former studio executive. “And it’s the last place where you want to save money.”The producing team declined to comment for this article, although a spokeswoman confirmed the insurance details. Last week, the producers said in a statement that they were “fully cooperating with all investigations and inquiries.”The authorities in New Mexico, where “Rust” was filming last week, are still trying to figure out what went wrong. On Wednesday, the Santa Fe County district attorney, Mary Carmack-Altwies, said at a news conference that criminal charges were still possible, including charges against Mr. Baldwin, who fired a gun being used as a prop, killing the film’s cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins, and wounding its director, Joel Souza. Mr. Baldwin, who is also a producer, was told the gun was “cold,” meaning that is contained no live ammunition, according to an affidavit.“It will take many more facts, corroborated facts, before we can get to that criminal negligent standard,” Ms. Carmack-Altwies said, adding in later interviews that civil lawsuits would inevitably arise.Alec Baldwin and his fellow producers on “Rust” did not secure a completion bond, an often-expensive insurance package that serves as a type of umbrella policy.Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images But a look at the constellation of production companies behind “Rust” is helpful in answering one of the many questions: How did Mr. Baldwin — an Oscar-nominated and Emmy-winning actor who has worked with A-list directors like Martin Scorsese and has 40 years of experience in productions big and small — end up on a set with a lethal gun in his hand?Mr. Baldwin may have a reputation of flying off the handle in his personal life, as when he blasted New York City on Twitter as “a mismanaged carnival of stupidity.” But he is not known for working on productions that could be described the same way.“Rust” was conceived by Mr. Baldwin, 63, and its writer-director, Mr. Souza, 48, who previously collaborated on “Crown Vic,” a low-budget crime film about the hunt for two cop killers. (It cost $3.6 million to make and sold $3,868 in tickets at a handful of theaters in 2019 before arriving on streaming sites like Hulu.) Announced in May 2020, “Rust” would follow an Old West outlaw, Harland Rust, who goes on the run with his grandson, a teenager convicted of an accidental murder and sentenced to hang.District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies said Wednesday that criminal charges were still possible after the shooting death of the film’s cinematographer.Adria Malcolm/ReutersWhile known almost exclusively as an actor, Mr. Baldwin has dabbled in producing since at least 1994. His company is called El Dorado Pictures, and its credits include seven films, none particularly notable. There was “Seduced and Abandoned,” a 2013 documentary for HBO that chronicled efforts by Mr. Baldwin and an associate, the director James Toback, to secure financing for a film. (Mr. Toback was later accused of sexual harassment by 38 women, accusations he denied.) El Dorado’s biggest hit came in 2001, when it was involved with the David Mamet satire “State and Main,” which collected $9.2 million, or about $14 million in today’s dollars. El Dorado also produces television and, until July, had a first-look deal with ABC Studios.To pay for “Rust,” which was expected to cost about $6.5 million to make, Mr. Baldwin and the various producers who joined him on the project began pulling the usual levers available to independent filmmakers: tapping wealthy outsiders with an interest in cinema, securing a loan from a film-financing company, preselling distribution rights. (Whether Mr. Baldwin directly took this path or wound up on it after shopping it unsuccessfully to a major studio or streaming service is not known.)Some money came from Streamline Global, a film investment company run by Emily Hunter Salveson, the granddaughter of Melvin Salveson, who invented and patented the credit card. Founded in 2015 and based in Las Vegas, Streamline helps wealthy clients obtain tax breaks by investing in certain types of movies, according to its website.Another pool of money came from BondIt Media Capital, which is backed by Revere Capital, a Texas hedge fund. BondIt provided debt financing for “Rust” based in part on tax credits: New Mexico offers a rebate ranging from 25 percent to 35 percent of in-state film production costs. Founded in 2013 and based in Santa Monica, Calif., BondIt specializes in ultralow-budget films (“The Manson Brothers Midnight Zombie Massacre”) that never make it to theaters and feed the home-entertainment pipeline.Additional “Rust” funding came from the sale of the film’s North American distribution rights, which was orchestrated by Creative Artists Agency. C.A.A. sold them to an offshoot of the Highland Film Group. Highland, known for its foreign film sales business, recently gained attention for handling “Me You Madness,” a campy thriller starring Louise Linton, the wife of Steven Mnuchin, the former Treasury secretary, and “The Reckoning,” a disastrously reviewed horror film starring Charlotte Kirk.As investigators in New Mexico piece together what happened on the “Rust” set, the producers of the film are coming under increased scrutiny. On an independent film in particular, the producers are ultimately responsible for what happens on a set; for all intents and purposes, they are the employers. “The buck is supposed to stop with them,” said Mark Stolaroff, a producer, independent filmmaking instructor and former production company executive. “As a producer, you are responsible for vetting the safety protocols, not just on the day, but also in the planning.”Mr. Stolaroff added that he was “shocked” that “Rust” had no completion bond.A vigil for the cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins, was held in New Mexico on Saturday.Kevin Mohatt/ReutersThe “Rust” producers are a rather motley band — a “ragtag group,” as The Hollywood Reporter called them this week. Five of the six were physically on the New Mexico set on the day of the shooting, according to the spokeswoman for the producing team. They were not, however, in the immediate area where Mr. Baldwin was rehearsing when he fired the gun.In addition to Mr. Baldwin, the producers who were present include Ryan Donnell Smith, who is also president of Streamline Global and an owner of Thomasville Pictures, a Georgia production company. Mr. Smith has multiple executive producer credits, which indicate financial involvement, including one for “The Trial of the Chicago 7.” But “Rust” was only his second scripted feature as a full producer, according to IMDb Pro, an entertainment industry database.Two more producers, Nathan Klingher and Ryan Winterstern, who have a company called Short Porch Pictures, have no previous credits as full producers. Both of them also hold jobs at Highland Film Group. (Mr. Winterstern’s father is Henry Winterstern, an investor, producer and corporate turnaround artist whose credits include the unsuccessful 2018 Sylvester Stallone vehicle “Escape Plan 2: Hades.”)The fifth producer on the set was Anjul Nigam, who helped Mr. Baldwin produce “Crown Vic.” Mr. Nigam has spent his career primarily as an actor, appearing intermittently as Dr. Raj on “Grey’s Anatomy” from 2005 to 2017.Rounding out the producing team: Matt DelPiano, who was previously Mr. Baldwin’s agent at Creative Artists Agency. Mr. DelPiano left C.A.A. in 2019 to become a partner at Cavalry Media. Cavalry was founded a year earlier by Keegan Rosenberger, notable in Hollywood for serving as a senior finance executive at Relativity, which collapsed in 2015 in epic fashion; and by Dana Brunetti, a fast-lane Hollywood character who has Oscar nominations for producing “The Social Network” and “Captain Phillips” and who once had a production shingle with Kevin Spacey.According to the “Rust” call sheet, Gabrielle Pickle was directly managing the set on the day that Mr. Baldwin fired the gun. Ms. Pickle is a line producer, which is a subordinate role but an important one. Line producers are usually involved in hiring and vetting key members of the crew. Ms. Pickle works for a Georgia production services company called 3rd Shift Media. The company could not be reached for comment. More

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      Gun Handed to Alec Baldwin Was Not Thoroughly Checked, Affidavit Says

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      The bullet that killed the cinematographer on the film “Rust” has been recovered, the Santa Fe County Sheriff said, and investigators believe there were more live rounds on the set.SANTA FE, N.M. — Before he handed a revolver that he had declared “cold” to the actor Alec Baldwin on the set of the film “Rust” last week, Dave Halls, an assistant director on the film, told a detective he should have inspected each round in each chamber, according to an affidavit that was released Wednesday. But he did not.“He advised he should have checked all of them, but didn’t,” according to an affidavit, which was signed by Detective Alexandria Hancock of the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s office.It turned out that the gun was not “cold.” The revolver, a .45 Long Colt, contained a live round, Sheriff Adan Mendoza of Santa Fe County said at a news conference Wednesday. The gun went off as Mr. Baldwin rehearsed a scene on Thursday, killing the film’s cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins, 42, and wounding its director, Joel Souza, 48.The sheriff said that the “lead projectile” that Mr. Baldwin had fired from the gun had been recovered from the director’s shoulder, and said that it was apparently the same round that had killed Ms. Hutchins. Asked if it was an actual bullet that had been fired — and not a blank — he said, “We would consider it a live round, a bullet, live, because it did fire from the weapon and obviously caused the death of Ms. Hutchins and injured Mr. Souza.”“We also believe that we have the spent shell casing from the bullet that was fired from the gun,” he said.Sheriff Mendoza said that investigators believe they recovered more live rounds on the film’s set at Bonanza Creek Ranch, and that they would be sending some of the ammunition they seized to the F.B.I. crime lab for analysis. “We have recovered what we believe to be possible additional live rounds on set,” he said.It was still unclear why there was any live ammunition on the set — it is generally forbidden on film sets — and how a live round came to be in the gun that Mr. Baldwin was handed.The Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza and the District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies arrived for a news conference about the investigation into the shooting.Nick Layman/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesThe Santa Fe County district attorney, Mary Carmack-Altwies, said at the news conference that the inquiry was continuing, and that criminal charges were still possible. “If the facts and evidence and law support charges, then I will initiate prosecution at that time,” she said.The film’s armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, told a detective that “no live ammo is ever kept on set,” according to the affidavit. Ms. Gutierrez-Reed, 24, who had only recently begun working as a lead armorer, told a detective that on the day of the shooting, she had checked dummy rounds — which contain no gunpowder and are used to resemble bullets on camera — and ensured they were not “hot,” according to the affidavit.Just before the shooting the crew took a break for lunch, she told the detective, and the ammunition was left out on a cart on the set.The shooting took place in the set of a church. Jae C. Hong/Associated PressDescribing the safety protocols on the set, Mr. Halls said that Ms. Gutierrez-Reed typically opened guns for him to inspect. “I check the barrel for obstructions, most of the time there is no live fire, she (Hannah) opens the hatch and spins the drum, and I say ‘cold gun on set,’” he said in an interview with Detective Hancock, according to the affidavit. It was not clear precisely what he meant by the term “live fire.”.css-m80ywj header{margin-bottom:5px;}.css-m80ywj header h4{font-family:nyt-cheltenham,georgia,’times new roman’,times,serif;font-weight:500;font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.5625rem;margin-bottom:0;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-m80ywj header h4{font-size:1.5625rem;line-height:1.875rem;}}Mr. Halls said that when Ms. Gutierrez-Reed showed him the gun before they continued the rehearsal, he only remembered seeing three rounds. He could not recall if she had “spun the drum,” according to the affidavit.After the shooting, Mr. Halls said, he picked up the gun from a pew inside the church and took it to Ms. Gutierrez-Reed. When she opened it, he said, according to the affidavit, he could see “at least four dummy casings with the holes on the side, and one without the hole. He advised this did not have the cap on it and was just the casing.” Dummy rounds are sometimes identified by a pierced hole on the side.Sheriff Mendoza said about 500 rounds of ammunition had been recovered from the set, including a mixture of blanks, dummy rounds and what the sheriff’s department believes to be live ammunition.In recent days there has been increasing scrutiny of Mr. Halls and Ms. Gutierrez-Reed, since they handled the gun before it went off.Mr. Halls, an industry veteran who has worked on films including “Fargo” and “The Matrix Reloaded,” has been the subject of various complaints over the years about safety, and was fired from the movie “Freedom’s Path” in 2019 after a gun unexpectedly discharged, causing a minor injury to a crew member. There were at least two accidental gun discharges on the set of “Rust” before the fatal shooting, according to three former members of the film’s crew. Mr. Halls didn’t respond to several attempts to reach him.Ms. Gutierrez-Reed, who also goes by Hannah Reed and Hannah Gutierrez, said on a podcast posted last month that she had just finished filming her first movie as head armorer in another western called “The Old Way,” starring Clint Howard and Nicolas Cage, that is set for release next year. “I was really nervous about it at first, and I almost didn’t take the job because I wasn’t sure if I was ready, but doing it, it went really smoothly,” Ms. Gutierrez-Reed said of that movie in the podcast, “Voices of the West.” She is the daughter of Thell Reed, a shooting expert and a consultant to the movie industry.Ms. Gutierrez-Reed told the detective that at the start of the lunch break, the firearms were secured inside a safe on a “prop truck.” During that time, she said that some ammunition was left on a cart, where it was “not secured,” and some was kept in the truck, according to the affidavit, which was filed in Santa Fe County Magistrate Court and was being used to ask for a search warrant for the “prop truck.”After lunch, the film’s prop master, Sarah Zachry, took the firearms from the safe and handed them to Ms. Gutierrez-Reed, the armorer, according to Ms. Gutierrez-Reed’s account to the detective.“She advised there are only a few people that have access and the combination to the safe,” the affidavit said.Over the last few days, questions have been raised about how the fatal shooting could have occurred if safety protocols had been followed properly.“I think there was some complacency on this set,” Sheriff Mendoza said. “Any time firearms are involved, safety is paramount.”Simon Romero reported from Santa Fe, Julia Jacobs from New York and Graham Bowley from Toronto. Matt Stevens contributed reporting. More

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      'Rust' Assistant Director Said He Didn't Thoroughly Check Gun

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      Dave Halls, the assistant director on the film “Rust,” told an investigator that he had not checked all of the rounds in the gun he handed to Alec Baldwin, as he should have, according to an affidavit released Wednesday.He said that the film’s armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, had opened the gun for him to inspect, according to the affidavit.“He advised he should have checked all of them, but didn’t, and couldn’t recall if she spun the drum,” according to the affidavit. He said he remembered seeing only three rounds.In the days since the shooting on the set, which occurred on Thursday — the actor Alec Baldwin shot the cinematographer and the director with a gun he had been told did not contain live ammunition — detectives from the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office have been examining the role that Mr. Halls and others on the set had in the incident.The film’s cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins, 42, was killed and its director, Joel Souza, 48, was wounded.It was Mr. Halls who handed Mr. Baldwin the firearm during rehearsals inside the set of a church and said that it was a “cold gun,” according to court documents, indicating that the firearm contained no live rounds and was safe for Mr. Baldwin to handle. Mr. Baldwin then began rehearsing a scene that involved “cross drawing” the revolver and pointing it toward the camera lens, according to the affidavit, when the gun went off.After the shooting, Mr. Halls said he picked up the gun from a pew inside the church and took it to Ms. Reed. When she opened it, he said, according to the affidavit, he could see “at least four dummy casings with the holes on the side, and one without the hole. He advised this did not have the cap on it and was just the casing.” Dummy rounds are sometimes identified by a pierced hole on the side..css-m80ywj header{margin-bottom:5px;}.css-m80ywj header h4{font-family:nyt-cheltenham,georgia,’times new roman’,times,serif;font-weight:500;font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.5625rem;margin-bottom:0;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-m80ywj header h4{font-size:1.5625rem;line-height:1.875rem;}}Describing the safety protocols on the set, Mr. Halls said Ms. Gutierrez typically opened guns for him to inspect. “I check the barrel for obstructions, most of the time there is no live fire, she (Hannah) opens the hatch and spins the drum, and I say cold gun on set,” he said in an interview with the investigator, according to the affidavit. It was not clear what he meant by the term “live fire.”Mr. Halls is an industry veteran who has worked on films including “Fargo” and “The Matrix Reloaded.” As assistant director, he was one of the people responsible for safety on the set of “Rust.” Mr. Halls didn’t respond to several attempts to reach him.In the frantic moments after the shooting, the assistant director was singled out by a script supervisor who called 911 with a desperate plea for help. “We’ve had two people accidentally shot on a movie set,” the script supervisor, Mamie Mitchell, told the 911 operator. Then Ms. Mitchell described how it was the assistant director’s responsibility to make sure such mishaps never happen. “He’s supposed to check the guns,” Ms. Mitchell said in the call.He has been the subject of complaints from various film professionals over the years. The complaints, which largely revolve around his regard for safety protocols and on-set behavior, are fueling questions about the New Mexico production, which had at least two accidental gun discharges just days before the fatal shooting. He was fired from the set of an earlier movie, “Freedom’s Path,” in 2019, after a gun unexpectedly discharged, causing a minor injury to a crew member, the production company, Rocket Soul Studios, said in a statement on Monday. More