Renowned filmmaker Quentin Tarantino has weighed in on the 2021 fatal shooting on the set of Rust, stating that actor Alec Baldwin bears some responsibility for the tragic incident.
In a recent episode of the “Club Random Podcast” with Bill Maher, Tarantino emphasized that while the armorer is primarily responsible for ensuring the safety of firearms on set, the actor also has a role to play in ensuring their own safety and the safety of others. “It’s a situation, I think I’m being fair enough to say, that the armorer… is 90 percent responsible for everything that happens when it comes to that gun, but… the actor is 10 percent responsible,” Tarantino explained.
The incident, which occurred in October 2021, resulted in the death of Rust‘s director of photography, Halyna Hutchins, and injured director Joel Souza. Baldwin, who was holding the prop gun, has maintained that he is not responsible for the tragedy, stating that he did not pull the trigger and that someone must have put a live bullet in the gun.
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Tarantino went on to explain that when filming a scene that requires a gun, there are specific steps that should be followed to ensure safety. “If there’s steps to go through, you go through them and it’s done with due diligence and you know it’s f—king for real,” he said. “They show you that the barrel is clear. And then they show you some version of, ‘Here are our blanks’ and ‘Here’s the gun’… and it’s ready for two or it’s ready for three [rounds]. And if an actor knows he has three… rounds in his gun and he knows that I’m going to do a scene… and he knows he’s got three hot rounds… if one of the rounds doesn’t go off… then he should cut the scene.”
In the aftermath of the incident, Baldwin was initially charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter, but his trial was dismissed in July due to prosecutors hiding evidence that may have been linked to the fatal shooting.
The incident has had far-reaching consequences, with the film industry re-examining its safety protocols and procedures. Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the armorer responsible for firearms on the set of Rust, was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to 18 months in prison.
The incident has sparked a wider conversation about the importance of safety on film sets and the need for greater accountability and responsibility from all parties involved.