Alec Baldwin Fires Prop Gun on Set, Killing Cinematographer

[suomynona]

A woman has died and a man has been injured after actor Alec Baldwin fired a prop gun on a New Mexico film set for the 19th Century western Rust.

Halyna Hutchins, 42, was shot while working on the set as director of photography. She was flown to hospital by helicopter but died of her injuries.

The man, 48-year-old director Joel Souza, was taken from the scene at Bonanza Creek Ranch by ambulance.

Police said they were investigating and that no charges had been filed.

A spokesman for Mr Baldwin, best known for his role as Jack Donaghy on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock and for his portrayal of Donald Trump on sketch show Saturday Night Live, said the incident involved the misfiring of a prop gun with blanks.

In a statement to AFP news agency, a Santa Fe sheriff spokesman said Mr Baldwin had spoken to detectives.

"He came in voluntarily and he left the building after he finished his interviews," the spokesman said.

Media caption,*The director who worked with Halyna Hutchins on the 2020 action film Archenemy says her death is "unfathomable"

Mr Baldwin is a co-producer of the film and plays its namesake, an outlaw whose 13-year-old grandson is convicted of manslaughter.

The eldest of four brothers, all actors, Mr Baldwin has starred in numerous TV and film roles since the 1980s.

Ms Hutchins was from Ukraine and grew up on a Soviet military base in the Arctic Circle, according to her personal website. She studied journalism in Kyiv, and film in Los Angeles, and was*named a "rising star" by the American Cinematographer magazine in 2019.

She was the director of photography for the 2020 action film Archenemy, directed by Adam Egypt Mortimer.

"I'm so sad about losing Halyna. And so infuriated that this could happen on a set," Mr Mortimer said in a tweet.

In a statement, the International Cinematographer's Guild said Ms Hutchins' death was "devastating news" and "a terrible loss".

"The details are unclear at this moment, but we are working to learn more, and we support a full investigation into this tragic event," said guild president John Lindley and executive director Rebecca Rhine.

Police said sheriff's deputies were dispatched to Bonanza Creek Ranch, a popular filming location, at around 13:50 local time (19:50 GMT) after receiving an emergency call about a shooting on the set of Rust.

Incidents such as Thursday's fatal shooting on the Rust film set are extremely rare, but not unheard of.

Real firearms are often used in filming, and are loaded with blanks - cartridges that create a flash and a bang without discharging a projectile.

In 1993, Brandon Lee - the 28-year-old son of the late martial-arts star Bruce Lee - died on set after being accidentally shot with a prop gun while filming a death scene for the film The Crow.

It was later determined that the gun used had earlier fired a round that caused a cartridge to become lodged in the barrel. When blank rounds were later fired, the cartridge was dislodged and released.

Responding to Thursday's news, Brandon Lee's sister Shannon tweeted: "Our hearts go out to the family of Halyna Hutchins and to Joel Souza and all involved in the incident on 'Rust'. No-one should ever be killed by a gun on a film set. Period."

[DarthArchon]

A film crew member has died and another was injured after actor Alec Baldwin discharged a prop firearm on the set of the movie "Rust".

Director of photography Halyna Hutchins, 42, was transported to the hospital via helicopter and pronounced dead by medical. Director Joel Souza, 48, was transported to Christus St. Vincent's Regional Medical Center by ambulance for care. Details on his condition were not released.

A distraught Alec Baldwin lingers in the parking lot outside the Santa Fe County sheriff's offices after being questioned Thursday about a shooting on a local movie set.

"According to investigators it appears that the scene being filmed involved the use of a prop firearm when it was discharged," the statement said. "Detectives are investigating how and what type of projectile was discharged."

The incident happened at approximately 1:50 p.m.

[v1r]

Can someone explain why they would have live ammunition in a prop gun?
Edit: Are blanks capable of firing some sort of projectile?
I have european gunlaws so im clueless.

[Vixənn]

[Not_real]

Originally Posted by v1r

Can someone explain why they would have live ammunition in a prop gun?
Edit: Are blanks capable of firing some sort of projectile?
I have european gunlaws so im clueless.

I'm no expert but two ways it's happened before is something physically stuck in the barrel like an old casing in the case of Bruce Lee's kid I think, and also blanks still have a tremendous amount of force being expelled under a lot of pressure. If you put something soft in front of it like a head or some tits it's going to cause serious concussive damage. Or some shithead put live ammo in it, pretty unlikely but people have done dumber shit than that on movie sets.

I want to say it isn't his fault simply because of how it looks and definitely not because I like him. He's a self important cunt and his ego far extends beyond his modicum of talent. I can't see how the stunt would have possibly been coordinated in a way where someone would have been on the other end of that firearm and gotten injured. Probably likely either live ammo or something stuck in the barrel, or he did something really fucking stupid that nobody told him to do.

[SaintVanity]

Any vids circulating out there?

[William May]

I have heard of several deaths from prop guns, just from the wadding in the blank that they fired. They are safe but only at a distance. Close up you STILL get the blast out of the muzzle. AB may be a jerk, but I feel sorry for him. This was certainly an accident, and likely not his fault.

[Moloko]

Anti gun lib kills someone with a gun..

[Barky]

Originally Posted by suomynona

A woman has died and a man has been injured after actor Alec Baldwin fired a prop gun on a New Mexico film set for the 19th Century western Rust.

Halyna Hutchins, 42, was shot while working on the set as director of photography. She was flown to hospital by helicopter but died of her injuries.

The man, 48-year-old director Joel Souza, was taken from the scene at Bonanza Creek Ranch by ambulance.

Police said they were investigating and that no charges had been filed.

A spokesman for Mr Baldwin, best known for his role as Jack Donaghy on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock and for his portrayal of Donald Trump on sketch show Saturday Night Live, said the incident involved the misfiring of a prop gun with blanks.

In a statement to AFP news agency, a Santa Fe sheriff spokesman said Mr Baldwin had spoken to detectives.

"He came in voluntarily and he left the building after he finished his interviews," the spokesman said.

Media caption,*The director who worked with Halyna Hutchins on the 2020 action film Archenemy says her death is "unfathomable"

Mr Baldwin is a co-producer of the film and plays its namesake, an outlaw whose 13-year-old grandson is convicted of manslaughter.

The eldest of four brothers, all actors, Mr Baldwin has starred in numerous TV and film roles since the 1980s.

Ms Hutchins was from Ukraine and grew up on a Soviet military base in the Arctic Circle, according to her personal website. She studied journalism in Kyiv, and film in Los Angeles, and was*named a "rising star" by the American Cinematographer magazine in 2019.

She was the director of photography for the 2020 action film Archenemy, directed by Adam Egypt Mortimer.

"I'm so sad about losing Halyna. And so infuriated that this could happen on a set," Mr Mortimer said in a tweet.

In a statement, the International Cinematographer's Guild said Ms Hutchins' death was "devastating news" and "a terrible loss".

"The details are unclear at this moment, but we are working to learn more, and we support a full investigation into this tragic event," said guild president John Lindley and executive director Rebecca Rhine.

Police said sheriff's deputies were dispatched to Bonanza Creek Ranch, a popular filming location, at around 13:50 local time (19:50 GMT) after receiving an emergency call about a shooting on the set of Rust.

Incidents such as Thursday's fatal shooting on the Rust film set are extremely rare, but not unheard of.

Real firearms are often used in filming, and are loaded with blanks - cartridges that create a flash and a bang without discharging a projectile.

In 1993, Brandon Lee - the 28-year-old son of the late martial-arts star Bruce Lee - died on set after being accidentally shot with a prop gun while filming a death scene for the film The Crow.

It was later determined that the gun used had earlier fired a round that caused a cartridge to become lodged in the barrel. When blank rounds were later fired, the cartridge was dislodged and released.

Responding to Thursday's news, Brandon Lee's sister Shannon tweeted: "Our hearts go out to the family of Halyna Hutchins and to Joel Souza and all involved in the incident on 'Rust'. No-one should ever be killed by a gun on a film set. Period."

I once worked with the actor, Michael Masse, who accidentally shot Brandon Lee. He was very open about it. Said it devastated him and that he had been in and out of rehab a few times. I don't think he ever recovered emotionally. He died in 2016 of stomach cancer.

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0557219/

[ShaunoftheDead]

Irrelevant to the story but thought this was hilarious. An old voicemail he left his kid daughter that somehow leaked out years ago (probably by actress Kim Basinger the mother)