Yes, Alec Baldwin Did Something Wrong
A Quick Explanation
In case you haven’t heard the news, Alec Baldwin has been indicted for manslaughter, for shooting Halyna Hutchins on the set of Rust.
Last year, I interviewed prop master Dean Goodine about his life and career as a prop master, which he wrote about in his book They Don’t Pay Me to Say No. When the subject of the Rust shooting came up, Dean carefully explained what is supposed to happen on set.
Here’s the clip—
If you don’t have time to watch the whole thing, here’s the tl:dw.
No one is supposed to even touch the guns on set except the armorer. Any guns, real or fake, should be stored in a safe on the armorer’s truck, with a combination that only the armorer knows. When it’s time to film, the gun is transferred to a smaller, portable safe, and taken to set.
Only when everything else is set up does the armorer take the gun out. At that point, they demonstrate to the actor, the AD, the director, and anyone else on set who wants to be reassured of the gun’s safety that A) the barrel is clear and B) the gun is either unloaded or loaded with blanks or dummies.
Then, and only then, does the armorer hand the gun to the actor. Once “Cut!” is called, the actor hands it back to the armorer.
Obviously, the Rust armorer failed at many of the above points, and that’s why she’s on trial. But when it comes to the death of a human being, often more than one person is responsible.
According to reports, the assistant director handed the gun to Baldwin. He should not have done that. He should not have been able to do that. But he did it anyway, which is why he plead guilty to negligent use of a deadly weapon.
And here’s the pertinent part for today’s news—Baldwin accepted the gun, and he should not have done that. The armorer was not on set (again, according to reports), and an actor as experienced as Baldwin should have known not to take the gun from anyone other than her, nor accept anyone else’s assurance that it was safe.
I’m sure Baldwin didn’t intend to hurt anyone; that’s what “involuntary manslaughter” is—killing of another person without the intent to kill, but where the person's death occurs as a result of the negligent (unknowingly takes a risk of which they should have been aware) or reckless (knowingly taking a risk) actions of the defendant.
What do you think?