Three days after the shooting of Alec Baldwin having fatally affected a director of photography on the set of a western in the United States, calls multiplied on Sunday in Hollywood to ban the use of firearms on sets.
Hit in the chest Thursday after the actuation by Alec Baldwin of a weapon used as a prop in the film Rust, according to a preliminary investigation report, Halyna Hutchins was taken by helicopter to a hospital in New Mexico, where she was pronounced dead.
A petition on the site change.org, calling for a ban on live firearms on filming and for better working conditions for the teams, had collected more than 15,000 signatures on Sunday.
“There is no excuse for something like this to happen at the 21e century, ”says the text of the petition launched by Bandar Albuliwi, a screenwriter and director.
“There is an urgent need to respond to the problem of abuse [du droit du travail] and the alarming security breaches taking place on film sets, including unnecessary high-risk conditions, such as the use of real firearms, ”Dave Cortese also pleaded in a statement on Saturday, elected Democrat to the California Senate.
“I intend to vote on a bill that would ban live bullets on filming in California, in order to prevent this type of senseless violence,” the elected official also said.
The successful detective series The rookie, which takes place in Los Angeles, decided the day after the tragedy to ban any real weapon on its set, a measure effective immediately, according to the movie magazine The Hollywood Reporter.
“As of today, it is stated on“ The Rookie ”that any firearm shooting on the set will be done with“ air soft ”weapons [des armes factices, NDLR] with artificial flames coming out of the barrel added in post-production ”, announced in a note to his teams the producer of the series Alexi Hawley, quoted by The Hollywood Reporter.
“Cold” weapon
The investigation into Halyna Hutchins’ death continued on Sunday, with the role of film armourer Hannah Gutierrez Reed, 24, coming under close scrutiny by investigators. It was she who had prepared the gun with which the actor fired the fatal shot. She had placed it on a cart with two other weapons.
Assistant director Dave Halls, described as a seasoned professional, then handed this gun to Mr. Baldwin during a rehearsal for a scene in the film, informing him that it was “cold”, that is. – say unloaded a real bullet in cinematic jargon.
Mr. Halls “didn’t know the gun was loaded with live ammunition,” said an agent from the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office.
After the shot, Mme Gutierrez Reed was entrusted with the weapon and collected the used cartridge, before handing them to the police on their arrival, the report said.
Dave Halls suffered from a negative reputation for allowing unsafe practices to take place on set, NBC News claimed on Sunday.
“It did not create a safe working environment,” Maggie Goll, a props designer who worked with Dave Halls, told the news channel, notably citing the blocking of emergency exits or the lack of security meetings.
No prosecution has yet been announced in this case, but the accidental thesis seemed privileged. Alec Baldwin remained at large after being questioned.
A search warrant was issued by a judge on Friday, authorizing law enforcement to seize equipment related to the shooting as well as weapons and ammunition used as props, and clothing worn by the actor and the rest of the team during the drama.
Testimony to the emotion aroused, a fundraiser launched by the union of directors of photography and intended for the family of Halyna Hutchins exceeded $ 180,000 on Sunday morning, far from the initial objective of $ 10,000.
A vigil in homage to Halyna Hutchins is to take place on Sunday evening in Burbank, a city near Los Angeles nicknamed the “media capital of the world” because of the presence of numerous film and television studios.