Hollywood Armorer Reacts to ‘Rust’ Manslaughter Charges: ‘There Is So Much Fault to Go Around’
Published by Adam B. Vary, Gene Maddauson for Variety Magazine on: Jan 20, 2023 9:59am PT
The death of Halyna Hutchins on the set of “Rust” in 2021 has special significance for Hollywood’s small community of film armorers. Like a lot of entertainment industry jobs, armorers occupy a highly specialized niche. It’s not the kind of thing you can go to school for, and there are no state certifications or license exams to pass. Getting into the profession tends to involve a combination of apprenticeship and old fashioned, right-place-right-time industry luck.
On Thursday, New Mexico prosecutors announced that they will bring involuntary manslaughter charges against both Alec Baldwin — who fired the shot that killed Hutchins — and Hannah Gutierrez Reed, the film armorer who loaded his gun with a single live round. They also announced that David Halls, the first assistant director who handed the gun to Baldwin, has agreed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge and to testify against Gutierrez Reed and Baldwin.
Variety spoke with Dutch Merrick about what it means to know that armorers can be held criminally responsible for an on-set death. Merrick, an armorer and prop master and a former president of IATSE Local 44, launched Prop Gun Safety LLC in the wake of Hutchins’ death last year. He offers training on safe gun handling on sets and has become a go-to expert for the media on set safety issues.
Merrick argues that many things had to go wrong for the “Rust” accident to happen, and that responsibility is shared among a broader group than the three who were charged. “There is so much fault to go around on this,” he said.
See full article at: https://variety.com/2023/film/news/rust-armorer-alec-baldwin-hannah-gutierrez-reed-dutch-merrick-1235495918/