As movie buffs will know, actor Alec Baldwin recently shot and killed a cinematographer during rehearsals for the upcoming film Rust.
The incident occurred when Baldwin was handed a period-piece revolver on set, and practised various ways of drawing the gun.
In a subsequent interview with ABC News, Baldwin made a series of astonishing statements.
He says his every move was coached by the cinematographer he shot, 42-year old Halyna Hutchins.
“She’s guiding me through how she wants me to hold the gun for this angle. I’m holding the gun where she told me to hold it, which ended up being aimed right below her armpit.”
Note “which ended up being aimed,” as if the gun had a life of its own.
He then goes on: “I cock the gun. I go, ‘Can you see that? Can you see that? Can you see that?’ And then I let go of the hammer of the gun, and the gun goes off.”
Finally: “I don’t know how that bullet arrived in that gun. I don’t know.” When the revolver was handed to him, he says, he was told the gun was “cold,” meaning either unloaded, or loaded only with blanks.
Let’s start with his most troubling statement, that he cocked the gun, and when he let go of the hammer, the gun fired.
Now it’s virtually impossible for a revolver, cocked in this manner, to fire itself. The trigger has to be pulled. Yet Baldwin says he didn’t pull the trigger.
More likely what happened is that after cocking the gun, he waved it around to get the right angle, and either pulled the trigger by mistake, or the trigger caught on something and the gun fired.
To be clear, there is no suggestion that Baldwin deliberately shot Ms. Hutchins. But his behaviour breaks every rule in the firearm safety book. First off, you never, ever point a gun at someone unless you mean to shoot that person, especially if it’s cocked.
What about his assertion that he was told the gun was “cold”?
It doesn’t matter what he was told.
You always assume, when handed a firearm, that it’s loaded. You don’t take someone else’s word for it.
The actor George Clooney says it’s standard practice on movie sets, when handed a gun, to personally inspect it. If it’s a revolver, you break it and examine the chambers. You also look down the barrel to make sure it’s empty.
This policy was adopted after the actor Brandon Lee was shot and killed on set by a co-star who fired a prop gun believed to be empty.
Adding to Baldwin’s troubles, he was a co-producer of the movie, meaning he had a degree of responsibility for how the scenes were managed.
Worse still, several crew members walked out before the incident, citing negligence and lack of safety protocols on set. Two of them have filed lawsuits to that effect.
Baldwin, 63, has admitted this could be the end of his career. That may be the least of his troubles.
