Alec Baldwin gun incident: How weapons are handled on film sets

Brut America

Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins died after Alec Baldwin discharged a prop gun on set. Now, her family is suing the actor.   Here's why people in the industry say the fatal accident could have been avoided ...

Transcript

00:00What happened was that someone had this in the gun instead of having this in the gun,

00:09which is a blank bullet with a projectile blank with no projectile.

00:27I think it's clear what happened.

00:30Alec had the gun in his hand.

00:32He shot it.

00:33Helena was killed.

00:34There's no reason why a simulated firearm or that a simulated firearm should be

00:39pointed at any person in a room at any time.

00:42This was a totally avoidable incident and should never happen again.

00:46When they say prop gun, what they really are not really properly naming it is it's

01:01not it was not a prop gun.

01:03It was literally a real gun with blanks in it.

01:16The difference between a blank and an actual bullet is that a blank isn't a

01:37projectile, but it still creates combustion, which is why you have the sound.

01:43But there is still a lot of force.

01:46When you go on a set, the last five I've been on where I was a cop or a cowboy,

02:11they check your guns, the armorer, that's their job to make sure that you get the

02:15gun for the scene.

02:17When you're using a firearm on a set as an actor, what should happen is a prop

02:22master. Really, there are very few people who can come in contact with the weapon.

02:27And that's a rule. They start with a safety meeting for the entire crew whenever

02:30you're going to do any sort of stunt, but also specifically like with a firearm.

02:35And then when they bring it to you, only you and the prop master are the ones who

02:38handle it. They open it up and then you hold on to it and you don't touch it unless

02:43you're in the scene using it.

02:44Once the simulated firearm is out of its lockbox in the space, it's announced that

02:51it is there. It is also announced whether or not it is charged, which means that it

02:57does or does not have blanks in it.

02:59And then it is known to the entire cast and crew or taught ahead of time that only

03:07the people who are in that type of choreography, they're the only ones who are

03:12allowed to touch it at any point in time.

03:15And the people who are instructed to or are a part of that combat are told not to

03:23point it at anyone at any time unless it is in choreographed combat.

03:28So then I said to her, now, in this scene, I'm going to cock the gun.

03:43I said, do you want to see that?

03:44And she said, yes, I cocked the gun and I let go of the hammer of the gun and the gun

03:47goes off.

03:58The lawsuit, as you can see, names Alec Baldwin and others who are responsible for

04:17the safety on the set and whose reckless behavior and cost cutting led to the

04:25senseless and tragic death of Helena Hutchins.

04:39You want to have people who are in the union who know all the protocols and who are

04:45following all the protocols rather than somebody who isn't as experienced, hasn't

04:51done this on a set and doesn't follow the rules that are guidelines for everybody's

04:56safety. And it can come down to budget to hire those more expensive people with that

05:01experience. But I think if you're doing something with a weapon, that's a priority.

05:21Twenty seven year old Brandon Lee was killed during a movie set accident today.

05:27He was filming a scene for the movie The Crow when he was hit by a projectile fired

05:32from a gun loaded with blank.

05:52Technology, as it is now, you know, I don't know that it's necessary to have blanks when

05:59you have a visual effects budget, you can do that and get the same effect and have zero

06:04risk of something going wrong.

06:05Seeing something of this scale and proportion that's so unnecessary and could have been

06:10avoided is just tragic on so many levels.

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