Hollywood Holds A Vigil For Halyna Hutchins Who Was Shot On The Set Of A Film (Photos)
During a candlelight vigil in her memory in Burbank, California on October 24, 2021, a man pays his respects alongside a photo of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who was inadvertently murdered by a prop gun fired by actor Alec Baldwin.
Touchaheart Nigeria reports that Halyna Hutchins’ friends and colleagues gathered on Sunday to pay respect to the cinematographer who was killed on set when Alec Baldwin fired a prop gun.
As concerns developed over how such a catastrophe could have occurred despite stringent protections, Hollywood staged a vigil for Hutchins, displaying anguish and outrage.
“I had the pleasure of working with Halyna,” said actress Sharon Leal.
“She was a wonderful woman and just, we’re all just so shocked.” On the set of the low-budget western “Rust” in New Mexico on Thursday, Hutchins, 42, was wounded in the chest by Baldwin firing a pretend gun he had been informed was safe. She was pronounced dead in the hospital a few hours later.
Director Joel Souza, 48, was also hit while crouching behind her as they lined up a shot. Doctors treated him and sent him home.
Police are still probing into the incident and have executed a search warrant at the set, where they were looking to check if the rehearsal had been captured on film, among other things.
Baldwin has been interrogated by Santa Fe police and has stated that he is completely cooperating with the investigation.
The film’s associate director, Dave Halls, who delivered the weapon to the actor, and the armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, 24, have also drawn attention.
No charges have been filed, and no arrests have been made in connection with the “ongoing investigation,” according to police.
However, there was palpable fury as groups of Hollywood insiders met in a Los Angeles suburb on Sunday to discuss what went wrong.
“The low budget productions oftentimes they want to make it look bigger than they really are,” said director Gustavo Sampaio, who worked with Hutchins four years ago.
“So they cut corners and they put safety in the backseat when it really should be at the forefront of everything that’s done on a set.”
That sentiment was echoed by producer Sabrina Oertle.
“I can tell you that as a producer, someone dropped the ball. Somebody decided to go with the bottom line, meaning keep your budget… cheap.”
– ‘No excuse’ –
Calls were growing for a ban on live firearms on movie sets, with a petition on change.org gathering more than 22,000 signatures by Sunday evening.
“There is no excuse for something like this to happen in the 21st century,” says the text of the petition launched by Bandar Albuliwi, a screenwriter and director.
Dave Cortese, a Democrat elected to the California Senate, said Saturday he would be pushing a bill banning live ammunition on movie sets in California
“There is an urgent need to address alarming work abuses and safety violations occurring on the set of theatrical productions, including unnecessary high-risk conditions such as the use of live firearms.”
The hit Los Angeles police drama “The Rookie” decided the day after the shooting to ban all live ammunition from its set, effective immediately, according to industry publication The Hollywood Reporter.
But some industry professionals said the use of weapons on film was not the problem.
Movie armorer SL Huang, writing on Twitter, said she had worked on hundreds of film sets without incident, thanks to the stringent safety protocols and the built-in redundancies.
“A tragedy happening in this particular way defies everything I know about how we treat guns on film sets,” she wrote.
“My colleagues and I have been trying to figure out how this could happen when following our basic safety procedures and we keep ending at a loss.
“Which implies… that very basic, very standard safety procedures may not have been followed. And that nobody shut the production down when they weren’t.”
The Los Angeles Times reported this week there had been crew disquiet about safety and working conditions.
The paper, citing crew members who had been on set, said three prop weapons had unexpectedly discharged prior to Thursday’s tragedy.
The production company has not responded to AFP requests for comment.
