SANTA FE, N.M. — The director called “action,” and Alec Baldwin emerged from a wooden shed and advanced toward the camera, firing shots from an old pistol. As soon as he heard “cut,” the actor wanted to do the take again.
“One more! One more! One more! Right away!” Baldwin shouted. “Let’s reload!”
Hannah Gutierrez Reed, the film’s 24-year-old armorer, hurried to put more blanks into his gun. Baldwin was visibly impatient. “Here we go! C’mon,” he said. “We should have two guns and both we’re reloading.”
Gutierrez Reed is now on trial for a fatal accident that occurred later on the set of “Rust.” On Thursday morning, jurors saw outtakes from the film, in which Baldwin could be seen using his pistol to point as he gave instructions to the crew.
The videos — seen publicly for the first time — are likely to be played again at Baldwin’s manslaughter trial in July. Both he and the armorer are accused of criminal negligence in the death of the film’s cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins.
Prosecutors have alleged that Baldwin is responsible both for firing the gun that killed Hutchins, and for management failures in his role as a producer. Baldwin’s defense has argued that he was a “creative” producer and was not in a supervisory role.
Kari Morrissey, one of two special prosecutors, played the videos during the questioning of Bryan Carpenter, a veteran armorer who is serving as the state’s expert witness. Carpenter testified that a series of behind-the-scenes videos showed numerous lapses in gun safety.
In several videos, a stuntman could be seen walking around with a shotgun pointed up — failing to maintain “muzzle discipline.” In another, the stuntman spun around with the gun pointed up, and then handed the gun to a child actor. He faulted Gutierrez Reed for failing to intervene or take the shotgun away.
In other scenes, Gutierrez Reed could be seen holding a shotgun upright by the barrel. Carpenter also said that when Baldwin was trying to speed up the reloading of the pistol, she should have slowed things down.
“Rushing with firearms and telling someone to rush with firearms is not normal nor accepted,” Carpenter testified. “In a situation like that, when you’re getting rushed to that extent, that’s when safety starts to fall by the wayside.”
In another take, Baldwin could be seen lying on his back on the ground, while holding a pistol. He gestured with the gun, explaining to the crew how he was going to get up and fire.
“I don’t want to shoot toward you,” Baldwin said. “I’m going to shoot close to you.”
Asked if he saw anything wrong with the clip, Carpenter said: “He’s using the weapon as a pointing stick.”
At one point, Gutierrez Reed could be heard off-screen warning the crew: “Everyone in the path of the gun please move.”
Carpenter said it appeared that Gutierrez Reed was avoiding addressing the issue with Baldwin.
“She was attempting to not correct Mr. Baldwin, but to try to make the crew move in a more safe position,” Carpenter said.
On cross-examination, the armorer’s lawyer, Jason Bowles, noted that she was just starting out in the business, and was not even in the union yet. He asked if it would be hard for her to rein in an A-list actor like Baldwin.
“It would be a difficult situation,” Carpenter said.
Carpenter also testified that the production should have had two armorers. Gutierrez Reed was the only armorer, and was splitting her time between that and her role as prop assistant.
But the expert also testified that once she accepted the job, Gutierrez Reed took on the responsibility for others’ lives.
“If that is not something you feel capable of doing, you should never step into the position of doing it,” he said. “You have to be prepared to go home.”
Source Agencies
