Fewer than three weeks before actor Alec Baldwin is due to go on trial in Santa Fe, New Mexico, prosecutors have said that he “engaged in horseplay with the revolver”, including firing a blank round at a crew member on the set of Rust before the tragic accident occurred.

Baldwin is facing involuntary manslaughter charges in the 2021 shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

In new court documents, prosecutors said they plan to bring new evidence to support their case that the 66-year-old actor and producer was reckless with firearms while filming on the set and displayed “erratic and aggressive behavior during the filming” that created potential safety concerns.

Prosecutors in the case, which is due to go to trial on 10 July, have previously alleged that to watch Baldwin’s conduct on the set of Rust “is to witness a man who has absolutely no control of his own emotions and absolutely no concern for how his conduct affects those around him”.

In the latest filing, special prosecutors Kari Morrissey and Erlinda Johnson allege that Baldwin pointed his gun and fired “a blank round at a crew member while using that crew member as a line of site as his perceived target”.

    • ZoopZeZoop@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      45
      arrow-down
      3
      ·
      8 months ago

      The only reason to do it is verisimilitude, and that’s not compelling because a fake is easy enough to acquire/create.

      • bolexforsoup@lemmy.blahaj.zone
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        61
        arrow-down
        4
        ·
        8 months ago

        In 2024 having a real firearm on set is unconscionable. Especially without a proper armorist. This was not only avoidable, but the situation shouldn’t have even presented itself.

      • frezik@midwest.social
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        6
        ·
        8 months ago

        It also only matters at all because of people banging on about “this movie was set in 1935, but the down-bent charging handle on gun X wasn’t introduced until 1941”. Which will still happen, anyway, and it’s not a good enough reason to have real firearms on set.

      • Empricorn@feddit.nl
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        8 months ago

        Isn’t literally everything in film and TV intended to look real, or at least look like it exists in that universe?

        • ZoopZeZoop@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          arrow-down
          2
          ·
          8 months ago

          Sure, but the difference between a real gun and a fake gun is not that great.

          Also, they often shoot 30 times without reloading from guns with a much lesser capacity. Their interest in realism is often so-so.

            • ZoopZeZoop@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              2
              ·
              8 months ago

              My original point was that the difference in how real it looks is not so great that it is outweighed by dangers of having a functional gun.

              My later point was that they can’t be all that concerned with being realistic if they are shooting 30 times from a gun with a 10 round magazine without reloading.

              • LeFantome@programming.dev
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                1
                ·
                8 months ago

                Ironically, I think there is a link there. I am more likely to relax my disbelief if things look real. Once I have immersed myself into a situation I believe ( because it seems real ), I am less likely to pay attention to things like shot count.

                It is the same as having heros that struggle with situations early on and then later are effortlessly capable of so much more. I already believed them so now they can take advantage of that.

    • catloaf@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      41
      arrow-down
      14
      ·
      8 months ago

      Actors miming shooting looks ridiculous. Like laser tag guns. Actual recoil looks much more realistic.

      • Fedizen@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        32
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        8 months ago

        ❌When the recoil looks fake

        ✔️Action hero only ever gets shot in shoulder despite thousands of rounds shot at them, bullets used by bad guys never hollow point

        • lepinkainen@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          8 months ago

          It’s like a bad accent.

          Some people won’t notice, but for those who can see/hear the difference it takes the suspension of disbelief away immediately

      • Fillicia@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        15
        arrow-down
        3
        ·
        8 months ago

        The must be a way to create “false” gun in the sense that they only takes blanks and have nonfunctional barrels. Or I’m I too optimistic?

        • PugJesus@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          32
          ·
          8 months ago

          Unfortunately, guns are deceptively simple. Just about anything that can detonate a realistic looking blank is capable of firing an actual bullet. And even if it’s just a blank, any obstruction in the barrel can end up becoming an ad-hoc projectile by the force. Every once in a while, you have that happen in Civil War re-enactments.

          • VelvetStorm@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            11
            ·
            8 months ago

            Thats also how Brandon Lee died. Iirc there was a squib malfunction that they didn’t notice so when they shot a blank, the round was pushed out and killed him.

          • Grimy@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            12
            arrow-down
            4
            ·
            8 months ago

            We could get around this by having specific calibers that only come in blanks.

              • Kecessa@sh.itjust.works
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                15
                arrow-down
                1
                ·
                8 months ago

                Ok but that’s a separate issue and something that can happen with a regular gun loaded with a regular caliber blank, what they’re saying is fake guns for movies should use a caliber for which no bullets exist, solving the main part of the issue, i.e. the fact that someone can load a normal bullet in a gun that is to be used as a prop.

                • rottingleaf@lemmy.zip
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  11
                  ·
                  8 months ago

                  This would help avoid this specific death, but not most others where the projectile wasn’t an actual bullet from a live round, but something stuck in the barrel, like the other person says.

                  This situation was unusual in the sense that an incompetent armorer had live rounds on set, and the gun was loaded with one.

                  What I mean is that the main part of the issue is exactly not this.