Alec Baldwin fired a prop gun that killed Halyna Hutchins on Oct. 21.
Dwayne Johnson will no longer use real guns on his movie sets. In the wake of the fatal Rust shooting -- in which Alec Baldwin discharged a prop gun on the film's set that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza -- Johnson vowed that his production company will stop using real guns on its sets.
"First of all, I was heartbroken," Johnson told Variety at the premiere of his latest flick, Red Notice. "We lost a life. My heart goes out to her family and everybody on set. I’ve known Alec, too, for a very long time."
"I can’t speak for anyone else, but I can tell you, without an absence of clarity here, that any movie that we have moving forward with Seven Bucks Productions -- any movie, any television show, or anything we do or produce -- we won’t use real guns at all," he continued. "We’re going to switch over to rubber guns, and we’re going to take care of it in post. We’re not going to worry about the dollars; we won’t worry about what it costs."
Johnson, 49, noted to the outlet that within hours of hearing about the Rust incident, he was in contact with his team about changes that needed to be made to ensure safety on his sets.
"I love the movie business. There are safety protocols and measures that we have always taken in the movie business and we take very seriously, and these sets are safe sets, and we’re proud of that. But accidents do happen," he said. "And when something like this happens of this magnitude, [that is] this heartbreaking, I think the most prudent thing and the smartest thing to do is just pause for a second and really re-examine how you’re going to move forward and how we’re going to work together."
"Any movie we do that Seven Bucks does with any studio, the rule is we’re not going to use real guns," Johnson added. "That’s it."
Angelina Jolie also spoke about the fatal shooting during her interview with The Times. "I can’t imagine what these families are going through. At this moment, the grief and the tragedy of that accident is quite overwhelming," the actress-director said. "I’ve always been very careful because I’ve had to work with guns a lot. The way I’ve worked or checked when I’m directing, there are certain procedures. You have to take it very seriously."
As for the Rust incident, Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza previously told the media that David Halls, the film's assistant director, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the film's armorer, and Baldwin were the three people who handled the weapon on set, noting that they have all "been cooperative in the investigation and have provided statements." Both Halls and Gutierrez-Reed have released statements through their attorneys.
Mendoza also said that it was "too early" to talk about possible charges being filed. "The investigation will continue and if the Sheriff's Office determines during our investigation that a crime has occurred and probable cause exists, an arrest or arrests will be made and charges will be filed," he said.
On Oct. 30, Baldwin spoke on camera about the incident for the first time, addressing the paparazzi in Vermont.
"She was my friend," he said of Hutchins. "The day I arrived in Santa Fe to start shooting I took her to dinner with Joel, the director. We were a very, very well-oiled crew shooting a film together, and then this horrible event happened... There are incidental accidents on film sets from time to time, but nothing like this. This is a one in a trillion episode. It's a one in a trillion event."
The fatal shooting was reportedly not the first time the Rust set was unsafe. Multiple reports noted that, prior to Hutchins' death and Souza's injury, union crew members walked off set to protest "poor" working conditions. As noted in Gutierrez-Reed's recent statement, there was also an incident that included the misfiring of a gun.
Additionally, Lane Luper, the film's former camera assistant, recently spoke out about quitting the project one day before the fatal shooting. Both Rust producers and Baldwin have denied reports of unsafe working conditions.
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