George Clooney Shares His On-Set Gun Safety Practices!
When it comes to the tragedy on the “Rust” movie set, actor George Clooney has something to say about “Rust” Gun Safety
CelebnMovies247.com reports George Clooney is speaking out about gun safety onset following the Oct. 21 fatal shooting of Halyna Hutchins and the wounding of director Joel Souza during the production of the Alec Baldwin-starring Western Rust in New Mexico.
During a discussion with Marc Maron for Monday’s episode of the WTF podcast, Clooney reflected on his time working on sets and the tragedies that happened to friends Jon-Erik Hexum, who fatally shot himself in the ’80s.
Jon-Erik Hexum shot himself on the set of CBS’ Cover Up with a pistol loaded with blanks, and Brandon Lee, who was accidentally shot and killed on the ’90s set of The Crow by another actor who fired an improperly prepared revolver.
Clooney discussed his close relationship with Lee:
Brandon and I played ball and hung out at The Hollywood Y three days a week. We were buddies. You know, this was his big break.
Speaking further of Lee, Clooney broke down the mistakes the set that led to the fatal shooting:
The first unit, low-budget probably… I don’t even remember if the guy was even a union prop guy, sent it down to a second unit, a different group of shooting, and they wanted to use the same gun so they sent the gun down there. It was the guy’s girlfriend that was the prop assistant. They didn’t have dummy bullets so they made them by taking the gun powder out and putting the bullet back in… She takes the bullets out of the cylinder and one of the shells, one of the bullets, had lodged in the barrel of the gun.
Clooney said that, after the gun was sent back to the first unit:
No one checks the barrel. No one notices of the six shells, one of them is missing the bullet and hands it to the first unit. They put a full load in it. The actor, which you never do with a full load, points it directly at Brandon and pulls the trigger and it’s like getting shot with a normal bullet. And killed him.
After what happened to Lee, Clooney continues to abide by safety protocols whenever given a prop gun.
He added:
Every single time I’m handed a gun on the set … I open it, I show it to the person I’m pointing it to, I show it to the crew. Every single take, you hand it back to the armorer when you’re done and you do it again.
What Happened on the Set of Rust:
On the set of Rust, Baldwin fired the prop gun that fatally shot Hutchins and wounded Souza. An investigation is currently underway about how the gun fired by Baldwin became loaded with live rounds.
George Clooney who doesn’t know Baldwin personally added:
I’ve been on sets for 40 years and the person that hands you the gun, the person that is responsible for the gun, is either the prop person or the armorer, period.
Rust’s firearms specialist, identified as armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed, attorneys claim that she didn’t know where the live rounds came – which made the set “unsafe.”
In addition to that, “Rust” featured a hodgepodge group of producers with little to no experience. Baldwin was one of the film’s six producers.
Clooney said, calling unverified reports of staff on set using the prop guns for target practice “insane” and “infuriating” if true.
He said:
Why for the life of me, this low-budget film with producers who haven’t produced anything wouldn’t have hired, for the armorer, someone with experience. We need to be better at making sure the heads of our department are experienced and know what they’re doing.
Authorities have said that “Rust” assistant director David Halls handed the weapon to Baldwin and announced “cold gun,” indicating that the weapon was safe to use.
Clooney called that a term he’s “never heard.”
Clooney added that he doesn’t believe “there’s any intent by anybody to do anything wrong” and called the Rust shooting a “terrible accident,” but stressed the importance of always checking every prop.
After Brandon Lee was killed on set, Clooney concluded by saying:
It really became a very clear thing: open the gun, look down the barrel, look in the cylinder, make sure. It’s a series of tragedies. But also, a lot of stupid mistakes.
