Quentin Tarantino recently appeared on Bill Maher’s “Club Random” podcast, where the two discussed Alec Baldwin’s role in the shooting death of “Rust” cameraman Halyna Hutchins. Maher didn’t think it was fair for Baldwin to be tried for manslaughter, but Tarantino said the actor was partly responsible. The gun Baldwin was carrying on the set of “Rust” contained live ammunition, and Hutchins was killed and director Joel Souza was injured when Baldwin shot him.
“I think I’m fair enough to say that the gunsmith, the guy who hands him the gun, is 90 percent responsible for everything that happens when it comes to that gun. But the actor is 10 percent responsible,” Tarantino said. “The actor is 10 percent responsible. It’s a gun! You’re kind of a partner in the responsibility.”
Tarantino, who is no stranger to guns on his film sets, said actors should always be shown the weapons they are supposed to carry on camera before they start filming, and “if there are steps you have to follow, you follow them. It’s done very carefully and you know it’s real.”
“That’s how an actor can handle it,” Tarantino continued. “If he followed the steps he was supposed to follow… like the barrel is clean, they show you the barrel is clean and there’s nothing stuck in it. They actually show you the barrel. Then they show you a version of, ‘Here are the blanks and here’s the gun.’ Now he’s ready to go.”
While the gunsmith is responsible for everything that happens with the gun, Tarantino believes the actor still has a role to play in making sure the gun he’s holding is safe. “Rust” gunsmith Hannah Gutierrez Reed was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and will serve 18 months in prison. The film’s first assistant director, Dave Halls, agreed to a plea deal to a misdemeanor charge of unintentional use of a deadly weapon. Meanwhile, Baldwin was charged with involuntary manslaughter but the case was dismissed on July 12 when a judge found that authorities had withheld evidence.
Maher asked Tarantino why all the guns on set couldn’t be fake, with visual effects used later in post-production to add gun shots and sounds. It’s a mindset that many Hollywood creatives have adopted since Hutchins’ death. For example, Dwayne Johnson said: diverse That all films and TV shows produced under his Seven Bucks Productions banner will be turned into “rubber guns.”
“I guess I could add digital erections to porn, but who wants to watch that?” Tarantino said in apparent opposition to the use of fake guns on set. “It’s more exciting to shoot blanks and see real orange fire, than to add orange fire.”
Tarantino then tried to point out that “out of all the guns we’ve fired in movies, we’ve only had two cases of people getting shot on set because of a gun accident,” referring to the shooting in “Rust” and the death of Brandon Lee on the set of “The Crow.” “That’s a pretty good record.”
Listen to the full interview with Tarantino on the “Club Random” podcast here.
