The Los Angeles Times just posted a major update on the fatal shooting involving Alec Baldwin in New Mexico yesterday, reporting that conditions on the set of the film were so bad that “a half-dozen camera crew workers walked off the set to protest working conditions”:
NEW: Hours before actor Alec Baldwin fatally shot a cinematographer on the New Mexico set of “Rust” with a prop gun, a half-dozen camera crew workers walked off the set to protest working conditions.https://t.co/47h0WFvxjZ
— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) October 22, 2021
Halyna Hutchins, the woman Baldwin shot and killed, “had been advocating for safer conditions for her team”:
Halyna Hutchins, had been advocating for safer conditions for her team, said one crew member who was on the set. https://t.co/47h0WFvxjZ pic.twitter.com/rJF84nNE8g
— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) October 22, 2021
The LA Times is also reporting that there were problems with this particular gun and “a serious lack of safety meetings on this set”:
“Corners were being cut—& they brought in nonunion people so they could continue shooting,” one person said. There were 2 misfires on the prop gun & 1 the previous week, they said, & “there was a serious lack of safety meetings on this set.” @MegJamesLAT: https://t.co/5krzF2dhDK
— Sam Schulz (@schulzsam) October 22, 2021
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Just, wow:
This wasn't a tragic mistake, it was willful negligence from the top down. https://t.co/qGRN5VcI73
— Bess Kalb (@bessbell) October 22, 2021
And there’s an important clarification as earlier reporting suggested there was a “live” round in the firearm but this doesn’t mean that there was an actual cartridge with a bullet loaded as non-film people would think of it:
Important update on Baldwin:
"A source close to The Times said the union does not know what projectile was in the gun and clarified that 'live' is an industry term that refers to a gun being loaded with some material such as a blank ready for filming."https://t.co/auWdr49amb
— Greg Pollowitz (@GPollowitz) October 22, 2021
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