‘Rust’ shooting case: Motion Picture Association, unions fail to come to agreement over safety law
Halyna's death is not the first tragedy of its kind on a movie set.
Last year's 'Rust' movie incident continues to have deep ramifications on Hollywood. The incident, in which a gun handled by actor-producer of the movie Alec Baldwin fired on the set of the movie in Bonanza City, New Mexico near Santa Fe. The bullet killed the film's cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. She was rushed to a hospital but did not survive her injuries. The bullet also hit Joel Souza, writer, and director of the movie, but he survived.
The fallout of the incident has ignited a debate over the handling of firearms on movie or TV show sets, the resulting dangers, and how to minimise them. There have been proposals by organisations involved in the film business to make sure such tragedies never happen in future. As per Variety, the Motion Picture Association and the Hollywood labor unions have been in talks to enact a new law to address the safety of weapons on movie sets.
As per the publication, they submitted proposals that were not in line with each other. The two sides have not reached an agreement. The law, if enacted, would have established a standard for training the armourers. This job currently does not come under any regulations.
The proposal by the union, the report said, would have been more sweeping. It proposed to create a role called “set safety supervisor” who could shut down the production if he or she thought it was unsafe.
Halyna's death is not the first tragedy of its kind on a movie set. The son of actor and legendary martial artist Bruce Lee, Brandon Lee, lost his life in a similar incident. He was hit by a .44 calibre slug while shooting a scene for the movie 'The Crow'.
According to the 'Rust' movie shooting investigators, apart from the round that killed Hutchins, there are seven more 'live' (not blank) rounds that were found on the set. The film's production was suspended after the death and it is unlikely that it will be finished and released. Set in 1880s Texas, the film also had Travis Fimmel, Frances Fisher, Jensen Ackles, and Devon Werkheiser in the cast.