Posts: 4,273
Threads: 3,475
Joined: May 2013
Reputation:
506
What a tragedy...
Veteran prop master says there "never" should be a live round on a setProp master Lucien Charles, who has worked on shows like "The Blacklist," "FBI: Most Wanted" and "Saturday Night Live," said that "negligence" allowed a live round to get into the gun on the set of Alec Baldwin's film, "Rust"
"That should never have happened. The guns are always checked or need to have checked and that should not have happened," Charles told CNN.
Charles said that there should "never" be a live round on set.
In terms of how movie sets handle having guns on the premises, Charles said "there's a lot of checks and balances."
Quote:"The prop master gets the gun from a vendor. If the armorer is involved, they'll get the gun and check it. When it's off set, there's a safety check, bring your crew around with the AD (assistant director), go over the gun with the actors and any crew members interested in seeing the gun. Then it's handled off from the prop master to the actor and that's where it ends right there."
I heard the prop assistant/armorer on this set was a 24 year old girl that had done in once before. She had said on some interview days before she was 'nervous' about it.
"The attention of the US media recently turned to the 24-year-old gun master, who was responsible for the proper handling of all weapons on the set. “Rust” was only the second film she was involved in in this role after “The Old Way” directed by Brett Donowho.
The news site “Daily Beast” reported, citing two sources involved in the production, that incidents in the film “The Old Way” with Nicolas Cage and Clint Howard had caused concern among crew members.
Production is said to have been stopped briefly after the 24-year-old gave an eleven-year-old actress a gun without properly checking it beforehand. The prop master of the film told the “Los Angeles Times” that he had had a positive impression of her despite initial skepticism and was surprised that the fatal incident had now happened under her supervision."
Agree with the title, I just don't understand that. Sounds like there were many safety issues there, like this having happened before and not being investigated. Live rounds were stored in the sam location as blanks. Also, sounds like they used the "prop" gun for target practice during off-times. either of those last two would explain that mystery.
Sad situation.
There is absolutely no reason for this whatsoever.
This cant be true. I thought all 20 year olds were lazy and mooching off their parents.
Quote: @greediron said:
Also, sounds like they used the "prop" gun for target practice during off-times. either of those last two would explain that mystery.
Wait a minute, as a non-native speaker I just want to make sure I understand this correctly: On days/times off, they took a gun which was there for the shooting of the movie for target practice with live rounds???
Wow...if that's true I've got a pretty good guess what actually happened now...unbelievable.
No one ever needs to use live rounds. Remember “live” means blanks anyway. And if you do use blanks those charges can be set at 1/4 charge. All of it can be sweetened in post. And the protocol I have experienced is—first a safety meeting with everyone on set when a gun is to used. The gun is shown to everyone, usually noting that the chambers can’t be filled with a live bullet, or it’s a starter pistol with a solid barrel. The gun is never used for a rehearsal. You point your finger and say “bang”. When it comes to rolling camera the gun is shown again to the actor to prove it is safe. After each take the armorer takes it. And before the next take he goes through the same protocol of showing the chamber to the actor. This means it should NEVER have happened. 25 years ago I did a low budget film (like Rust) where we used live fully loaded charges (blanks) with no ear plugs. I lost 1/3 of my hearing. Stupid. Luckily I was firing at a door-not a human.
Quote: @Caactorvike said:
No one ever needs to use live rounds. Remember “live” means blanks anyway. And if you do use blanks those charges can be set at 1/4 charge. All of it can be sweetened in post. And the protocol I have experienced is—first a safety meeting with everyone on set when a gun is to used. The gun is shown to everyone, usually noting that the chambers can’t be filled with a live bullet, or it’s a starter pistol with a solid barrel. The gun is never used for a rehearsal. You point your finger and say “bang”. When it comes to rolling camera the gun is shown again to the actor to prove it is safe. After each take the armorer takes it. And before the next take he goes through the same protocol of showing the chamber to the actor. This means it should NEVER have happened. 25 years ago I did a low budget film (like Rust) where we used live fully loaded charges (blanks) with no ear plugs. I lost 1/3 of my hearing. Stupid. Luckily I was firing at a door-not a human.
Good insight from an actor. Its just so tragic that you solidify beyond a doubt this should have never happened.
Quote: @GermanVike said:
@ greediron said:
Also, sounds like they used the "prop" gun for target practice during off-times. either of those last two would explain that mystery.
Wait a minute, as a non-native speaker I just want to make sure I understand this correctly: On days/times off, they took a gun which was there for the shooting of the movie for target practice with live rounds???
Wow...if that's true I've got a pretty good guess what actually happened now...unbelievable.
That was my understanding of that report. The electrician/gaffer has made some pretty damning accusations as well.
The assistant director on the movie “Rust,” who handed a prop gun to Alec Baldwin before the fatal shooting last week, was previously fired from a film production after a gun incident injured a crew member, the movie’s production company told CNN.
Dave Halls was serving as assistant director on the film “Freedom’s Path” in 2019, when a gun “unexpectedly discharged” on set, causing a sound crew member to recoil from the blast, halting production, the production company Rocket Soul Studios said Monday.
The sound crew member was evaluated by an on-set medic and advised to seek medical treatment. The crew member returned to the production a few days later, Rocket Soul said.
Following the incident, Halls was removed from the set and fired from the production, the company said.
Quote:“Halls was removed from set immediately after the prop gun discharged. Production did not resume filming until Dave was off site. An incident report was taken and filed at that time,” it said.
“Upon wrapping production for the day, Dave Halls was officially terminated and given the specific reasons for his termination,” The company continued. “Dave was very remorseful for the events, and understood the reasons he was being terminated. A new assistant director as well as a new armorer were hired for the duration of principal photography. Production of the film finished successfully.”
When reached by CNN, the sound crew member did not want to comment on the matter. Halls could not be reached for comment.
|