Five days ago the film revolver misfired …
The fatal shot of actor Alec Baldwin (63) on the set of the western “Rust” was apparently preceded by arguments about significant security deficiencies. Hours before the tragic accident, six members of the camera team had stopped working on the location in New Mexico (USA) in protest. The Los Angeles Times reported that they were dissatisfied with the conditions on site and, above all, with the lack of safety precautions.
An insider said that there were two misfires on the film gun in question on Saturday and one in the previous week. There would have been a serious lack of safety briefing on this set in general.
And camerawoman Halyna Hutchins (42) of all people, who was killed in the fateful shot with the prop on Thursday, had previously campaigned for safer conditions for her team, a crew member told the Los Angeles Times.
There was also a dispute about working conditions. Before filming began on October 6, the unionized team had been promised that the production would pay for their accommodation and that they would live near the location in Santa Fe.
After shooting started, it suddenly said that they live in Albuquerque, 50 kilometers away, and that they have to travel from there every day. In addition, there was anger about late salary payments, so that the frustrated team appeared on the set early on Thursday morning at 6:30 a.m., packed up their equipment and no longer wanted to be part of the filming.
As a result, a new crew, not union members, appeared to replace them. An employee of the producer had instructed the previous team together with a security service to leave the set immediately.
The production company “Rust Movie Productions” had declared after the tragic accident: “The safety of our actors and crew is a top priority for Rust Productions and everyone who is associated with the company”.
And: “Although we have not become aware of any official complaints about the safety of weapons or props on set, we will conduct an internal review of our procedures while production is paused.”
The filming that led to the terrible incident then took place just six hours later – with a completely new team.