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Over the past few years there’s been ongoing conversations about safety on film sets. This is at least partly inspired by the tragic death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who was shot and killed when a prop gun from the movie Rust was fired. Blame has been thrown at both Alec Baldwin and armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, and the latter has just been sentenced related to the tragedy on set.
Back in March, Gutierrez-Reed was convicted of involuntary manslaughter related to the death of Hutchins. While she’s maintained her innocence, the courts found her at least partly responsible for the tragedy. And a new report by Variety confirmed that the armorer was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
This sentenced was given by Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer, who was quoted addressing Hutchins by saying:
You alone turned a safe weapon into a lethal weapon. But for you, Ms. Hutchins would be alive, a husband would have his partner, and a little boy would have his mother.
The tragedy on the set of Rust occurred back in October of 2021, and the public has spent years watching the legal system take its course. The investigation took years, as the authorities tries to piece together how a live round was discharged from a prop weapon. For her part, Gutierrez-Reed filed a suit against the wholesaler who she purchased the dummy rounds from.
Of course, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed isn’t the only person facing legal issues as a result of Halyna Hutchins’ death. Actor/producer Alec Baldwin has also been blamed, as he was reportedly holding the weapon when it discharged. With Gutierrez-Reed officially facing jail time, only time will tell how this might affect the charges facing Baldwin.
While the Rust actor/producer has had some steps forward during his legal battle, Baldwin was hit with another charge back in January. And despite all of this, there were plans to resume filming Rust.
As the legal system takes its course, the death of Halyna Hutchins has continued to have an impact on the entertainment industry as a whole. Certain big figures like Dwayne Johnson have vowed to stop using real weapons during filming, despite how much more expensive it’ll be to fix the visuals in post-production.
While Halyna Hutchins’ death has been making headlines for years, she’s only one example of a horrifying onset accident in recent memory. For example, a stuntwoman died on the set of Deadpool 2, and a Walking Dead stuntman also had a fatal fall. TV and film sets can be dangerous places, especially when fire arms are involved. We’ll just have to see what systemic changes happen, and how both Gutierrez-Reed and Baldwin’s lives continue being affected by what happened that faithful day on the set of the infamous Western movie Rust.