Baldwin, Alec

Subterms

    More stories

    • 100 Shares99 Views

      in Movies

      Producers of Alec Baldwin Film Scrutinized After Shooting

      by

      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

    • 138 Shares189 Views

      in Movies

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

      by

      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

    • 113 Shares169 Views

      in Movies

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

      by

      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

    • 175 Shares169 Views

      in Movies

      Gun and Projectile Used in Shooting on Alec Baldwin Film Set Recovered, Officials Say

      by

      Sheriff Adan Mendoza of Santa Fe County said at a news conference on Wednesday that the lead projectile Alec Baldwin fired from a revolver on the “Rust” film set, killing the film’s cinematographer and wounding its director, was recovered from the director’s shoulder, and added that investigators believe they recovered more live rounds on the set.Investigators also believe they have recovered the Colt revolver that fired the shot, Sheriff Mendoza said, as well as about 500 rounds of ammunition from the set. The ammunition recovered included a mixture of blanks, dummy rounds and what the sheriff’s department suspects to be live ammunition, which it will send 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.The sheriff declined to comment on how live ammunition got there; typically, live rounds are not allowed anywhere on film sets. He described the gun that fired the fatal shot as a .45 Long Colt revolver, made by the Italian manufacturer F.lli Pietta.The shooting happened during a rehearsal for a scene in “Rust,” a Western in which Mr. Baldwin was playing an outlaw. Mr. Baldwin was practicing a scene with a gun he had been told did not contain live ammunition on the set when it went off, killing the cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins, and wounding the director, Joel Souza.Sheriff Mendoza used the words “lead projectile” to describe what was recovered from Mr. Souza’s shoulder, and said 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.”Over the past 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. “Anytime firearms are involved, safety is paramount.”.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;}}The 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.Sheriff Mendoza said there were 16 people in the vicinity of where the fatal shooting took place, a set depicting a 19th-century wooden church. In total, there were about 100 people on set, he said.All three people who had handled the gun were cooperating with law enforcement, Sheriff Mendoza said. According to court papers, the film’s armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, prepared a table on which three guns sat; an assistant director on the film, Dave Halls, grabbed a revolver and declared it to be a “cold gun,” meaning that it had no live ammunition inside and was safe to handle. Then, Mr. Halls handed the gun to Mr. Baldwin, a detective wrote in an affidavit used to obtain a search warrant.Mr. Baldwin had been sitting in a wooden church pew, rehearsing a scene that involved “cross drawing” a revolver and pointing it toward the camera lens, Mr. Souza told a detective investigating the shooting, according to court papers. When the gun went off, Ms. Hutchins was struck in the chest and Mr. Souza was wounded in the shoulder.Mr. Baldwin is an “active part of this investigation,” the sheriff said.Detectives said that they recovered three revolvers, spent casings and ammunition — in boxes, loose and in a fanny pack — while executing a search warrant on the set, according to an inventory of the items. The inventory did not specify what kind of ammunition was found on the set. More

    • 138 Shares179 Views

      in Movies

      Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, Armorer on 'Rust' Set, Told Detective She Checked Rounds

      by

      Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the armorer on the “Rust” film, told a detective that the day Alec Baldwin fatally shot the movie’s cinematographer, she had checked dummy rounds and ensured they were not “hot,” according to an affidavit released on Wednesday. When the crew took a break for lunch, she told the detective, the ammunition was left out on a cart on the set.Dummy rounds contain no gun powder or primer cap; they are simply used as stand-ins for real bullets on camera.It was Ms. Gutierrez-Reed who had set up a gray two-tiered cart outside the set from which Dave Halls, the assistant director, took the firearm and handed it to Mr. Baldwin just before the shooting, according to court papers.On the day of the shooting, the crew had been rehearsing a scene, then broke for lunch before returning to that scene. 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 ammunition was kept in the truck as well as on a cart on set, where they were “not secured,” according to the affidavit.Ms. Gutierrez-Reed told an investigator that no live ammunition “is ever kept on set.” 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.During the course of filming, Ms. Gutierrez-Reed told the detective that she had handed the gun to Mr. Baldwin a couple of times and also to Mr. Halls.On a podcast posted last month, Ms. Gutierrez-Reed, 24, who also goes by Hannah Reed and Hannah Gutierrez, said 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.“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,” on which the hosts discuss old western films and television shows. She is the daughter of Thell Reed, a shooting expert and a consultant to the movie industry who has trained prominent actors in handling firearms.“Dad’s been teaching me a little bit every now and then about guns since I was 16,” Ms. Gutierrez-Reed said on the podcast, “but I think we really got into the stuff more just really in the last couple of years.”Ms. Gutierrez-Reed did not respond to several requests for comment. More

    • 138 Shares199 Views

      in Movies

      Criminal Charges Possible in Shooting on Alec Baldwin Set, D.A. Says

      by

      An inquiry into how a cinematographer was killed with a gun the actor was rehearsing with, which was not supposed to have live rounds in it, could take weeks.SANTA FE, N.M. — The Santa Fe County district attorney said on Tuesday that she was not ruling out criminal charges in last week’s fatal shooting on a film set. The actor Alec Baldwin was rehearsing with a gun that he had been told did not contain live ammunition when it went off, killing the film’s cinematographer and wounding its director.“We haven’t ruled out anything,” the district attorney, Mary Carmack-Altwies, said in a telephone interview. “Everything at this point, including criminal charges, is on the table.”Ms. Carmack-Altwies said that the investigation was focusing on ballistics in an effort to determine what kind of round was in the gun that killed Halyna Hutchins, the cinematographer — and who had placed the ammunition in the gun.“There were an enormous amount of bullets on this set, and we need to find out what kinds they were,” Ms. Carmack-Altwies said. Detectives said that they recovered three revolvers, spent casings and ammunition — in boxes, loose and in a fanny pack — while executing a search warrant on the set, according to an inventory of the items released on Monday. The inventory did not specify what kind of ammunition was found on the set.Ms. Carmack-Altwies took issue with descriptions of the firearm used in the incident as “prop-gun,” saying that the terminology, which is used in some of the court documents related to the case, could give the misleading impression that it was not a real gun.“It was a legit gun,” she said, without naming specifically what kind of firearm was used. “It was an antique-era appropriate gun.”Detectives from the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office are proceeding carefully with the investigation, she said, citing the large number of witnesses and the need to methodically collect ballistics and forensics evidence..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;}The shooting occurred on Thursday on the set of a church where Mr. Baldwin was rehearsing a scene for “Rust,” a Western where he plays an outlaw. According to affidavits included in applications for search warrants, Dave Halls, an assistant director on the set, had gone outside the church and taken the gun off a cart, where it had been placed by the film’s armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed. Mr. Halls handed the gun to Mr. Baldwin, who was rehearsing inside the church, according to the affidavit, and said it was a “cold gun,” indicating that it contained no live rounds and was safe for Mr. Baldwin to handle.Mr. Baldwin then rehearsed a scene that involved “cross drawing” a revolver and pointing it toward the camera lens, according to the affidavit, when the gun fired — striking Ms. Hutchins in the chest and killing her, and hitting the director of the film, Joel Souza, in the shoulder, wounding him.Detectives are still interviewing people who were on the set, Ms. Carmack-Altwies said. “It’s probably weeks, if not months, of follow-up investigation that we’re going to need to get to the point of charging.”Ms. Carmack-Altwies said that she was aware of news reports suggesting that crew members had used guns with live ammunition for target practice hours before the fatal shooting, but said that the reports were “unconfirmed.”Mamie Mitchell, the script supervisor who called 911 after the shooting, has hired Gloria Allred as her lawyer, according to a statement from Ms. Allred. The statement said they would be conducting their own investigation into the incident “because there are many unanswered questions.”Ms. Carmack-Altwies, who is expected to speak with reporters on Wednesday morning at a news conference along with Sheriff Adan Mendoza, of Santa Fe County, said that this incident figured among the most challenging cases in Santa Fe County in recent memory.“We have complex cases all the time,” she said. “But this kind of complex case, with these kinds of prominent people, no.” More

    • 125 Shares99 Views

      in Movies

      Alec Baldwin Shooting: What Detectives Found at the Movie Set

      by

      Court papers did not specify what kind of ammunition detectives recovered from a movie set where the actor had fatally shot a cinematographer with a gun he was told did not contain live rounds.Detectives found three revolvers, spent casings and ammunition — in boxes, loose and in a fanny pack — when they searched the New Mexico film set where the actor Alec Baldwin fatally shot a cinematographer last week with a gun he had been told did not contain any live rounds, according to an inventory of the items seized that was released on Monday.The new details emerged four days after Mr. Baldwin shot the cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins, while rehearsing a scene in which he draws a revolver from his holster and points it at the camera, according to an affidavit used to obtain the warrant to search the set. The inventory, filed in Santa Fe County Magistrate Court, did not specify what kind of ammunition was seized, and whether it included regular bullets, blank cartridges or dummies.Taken together, the guns, ammunition and blood from the scene where the movie “Rust” was being filmed did not answer the central question of how Ms. Hutchins was killed with a gun that was not supposed to contain live ammunition.Mike Tristano, a veteran professional armorer based in Los Angeles, said the inventory was vague and gave scant information about the type of guns or bullets found. But he did point to the reference to loose ammunition and spent casings as unusual. Typically, ammunition would be kept in a clearly labeled box, he said. “The fact that there is loose ammunition and casings raises questions about the organization of the armory department,” he said.According to an interview with the movie’s director, Joel Souza, used in an affidavit released on Sunday by the Santa Fe County sheriff’s department, Mr. Baldwin had been sitting in a wooden pew in a set depicting a church, explaining how he would draw the gun, when it suddenly discharged. Mr. Souza told a detective that he remembered Ms. Hutchins grabbing her midsection and starting to stumble backward before noticing that he was bleeding from his shoulder.Reid Russell, a cameraman who was present at the scene, told a detective he remembered Ms. Hutchins saying that she “couldn’t feel her legs.”The details, from Detective Joel Cano, provide a chilling account of the fatal shooting on a production set that had been beset by accidental gun discharges and labor disputes between producers and crew members..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;}The exact safety protocol that played out before the shooting on Thursday remained unclear. Mr. Souza said in the affidavit that typically, firearms had been checked by the movie’s armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, then the first assistant director, Dave Halls, before Mr. Halls would hand the weapons to actors. Before the shooting, the affidavit said, Mr. Halls had grabbed the revolver from a cart outside the building that had been prepared by Ms. Gutierrez-Reed — on which three guns sat — and declared it to be a “cold gun,” which on a film set usually refers to an unloaded firearm.Although the inventory did not stipulate what kind of ammunition was recovered, live bullets are generally forbidden on film sets.Mr. Halls, an industry veteran who worked on films including “Fargo” and “The Matrix Reloaded,” has been the subject of complaints about safety on previous productions. On Monday, a production company, Rocket Soul Studios, said in a statement that Mr. Halls had been fired from the set of a movie, “Freedom’s Path” in 2019 after a gun unexpectedly discharged, causing a minor injury to a crew member. The statement was reported earlier by CNN.“Halls was removed from set immediately after the prop gun discharged,” the statement said. Mr. Halls did not immediately respond to a request for comment on that situation.Mr. Souza said the filming of the scene inside the church that day had been interrupted by a lunch break for the production. Neither Mr. Souza nor Mr. Russell knew whether the revolver had been inspected after the crew returned from the lunch break, according to the affidavit.The sheriff’s office and the Santa Fe district attorney’s office are planning to hold a news conference on Wednesday to discuss the investigation. More

    • 100 Shares129 Views

      in Movies

      What We Know About Alec Baldwin’s Fatal Shooting

      by

      The authorities are investigating the death of the cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of “Rust” in Santa Fe County. Here’s what we know.The authorities in Santa Fe County, N.M., are investigating what happened on the set of “Rust” when the actor Alec Baldwin killed the film’s cinematographer and wounded its director by firing a gun that was being used as a prop.Details have begun to trickle out with the release of a detective’s affidavit, the audio of a 911 call made immediately after Thursday’s shooting, and public statements from some of the people involved. But much remains unclear, including the essential question: How did a gun that contained a fatal projectile get into the hands of an actor who believed it was safe, when an array of safeguards should have made that impossible?Here is an overview of what we know, and what we don’t know, as of Saturday morning.What we knowThe shooting happened during a rehearsal for a scene in “Rust.” Mr. Baldwin fired the gun, striking the cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins, in the chest and the director, Joel Souza, in the shoulder. Ms. Hutchins, 42, was airlifted to a hospital in Albuquerque, where she died. Mr. Souza, 48, was taken by ambulance to a hospital in Santa Fe and was released on Friday.Mr. Baldwin has cooperated with the investigation, including going to the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office after the shooting to provide a statement and answer questions. No criminal charges have been filed against him or anyone else.The Sheriff’s Office has obtained a warrant to search the building where the shooting happened, examine the gun for biological evidence, and review video footage from the film cameras and other recordings. A spokesman for the office said he expected more information to be available next week.In an affidavit accompanying the office’s request for a warrant, Detective Joel Cano said that an assistant director on the set had taken the gun off a cart — where it had been placed by the film’s armorer, or weapons handler — and handed it to Mr. Baldwin, who pulled the trigger shortly thereafter. According to the affidavit, the assistant director called out the words “cold gun,” indicating that it was unloaded and safe for Mr. Baldwin to handle.Days earlier, a handful of crew members had walked off the set over general working conditions, according to several people involved in the production and a theatrical union official. Crew members had complained to producers about long workdays — often exceeding 13 hours — and delayed paychecks. Some also said the production company had failed to book hotel rooms near the set, meaning that they had to drive about an hour to their homes after long, physically demanding days.In a statement released on Friday, Mr. Baldwin called the shooting a “tragic accident” and said he had been in touch with Ms. Hutchins’s husband to offer his support. “There are no words to convey my shock and sadness regarding the tragic accident that took the life of Halyna Hutchins, a wife, mother and deeply admired colleague of ours,” he wrote on Twitter, adding, “My heart is broken for her husband, their son, and all who knew and loved Halyna.”What we don’t knowWhat type of projectile the gun contained. We do not know whether it was live ammunition, a blank (meaning a cartridge without a bullet, but with gunpowder and wadding that can sometimes be ejected forcefully enough to kill) or something else.Who loaded the gun, and who was responsible for the false conclusion that it wasn’t loaded. We know from the Sheriff’s Office affidavit that the assistant director called it a “cold gun” when handing it to Mr. Baldwin, but we do not know whether he made that assessment personally or whether he received bad information from someone else.How the protocols that are supposed to prevent firearm deaths and injuries on film sets failed. More