Quentin Tarantino has sparked controversy by stating that while Alec Baldwin isn’t solely responsible for Halyna Hutchins‘ death on the Rust set, he bears some blame.
The Pulp Fiction director discussed the 2021 fatal shooting on Sunday’s episode of Bill Maher’s podcast Club Random, where he attributed 90% of the responsibility to armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, while placing the remaining blame on Baldwin.
‘It’s a situation, I think I’m being fair enough to say, that the armorer — the guy who handles the gun — is 90% responsible for everything that happens when it comes to that gun… but but but but but…. the actor is 10% responsible,’ Tarantino stated.
He added: ‘You are a partner in responsibility to some degree.’
Tarantino went on to say that he believes actors should personally inspect their weapons to ensure there are no bullets in the barrel or other issues before using them in scenes.
Quentin Tarantino has sparked controversy by stating that while Alec Baldwin isn’t solely responsible for Halyna Hutchins ‘ death on the Rust set , he bears some blame
The Pulp Fiction director discussed the 2021 fatal shooting on Sunday’s episode of Bill Maher’s podcast Club Random , where he attributed 90% of the responsibility to armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, while placing the remaining blame on Baldwin; (Baldwin in Rust)
In July, a New Mexico judge dismissed the manslaughter case against Baldwin, after it was discovered that prosecutors had placed crucial evidence in an improper file, effectively concealing it from Baldwin’s legal team.
The extraordinary decision came after a day-long hearing without the jury present over bullets that should have been in evidence, which Baldwin’s lawyers claimed were ‘concealed’ from them and ‘buried’ in another case file.
The issue had upended the trial for Baldwin who pleaded not guilty to two counts of involuntary manslaughter as he was accused of negligence for accidentally firing a live round on the set of the movie Rust in October 2021.
Prosecutors had planned to present evidence at trial that they say shows the firearm ‘could not have fired absent a pull of the trigger’ and was working properly before the shooting.
In April of this year, Guttierez-Reed, the armorer on set, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Hutchins’s death and sentenced to 18 months.
She is currently serving her sentence at the Santa Fe County Adult Detention Facility and had been due to be called to the stand to testify in Baldwin’s case.
In October 2021, Baldwin was rehearsing a cross-draw maneuver with the revolver when the gun went off, killing Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza.
Baldwin pleaded not guilty and claimed the gun accidentally fired after he pointed it toward Hutchins and pulled back the hammer, when it fired.
‘It’s a situation, I think I’m being fair enough to say, that the armorer — the guy who handles the gun — is 90% responsible for everything that happens when it comes to that gun… but but but but but…. the actor is 10% responsible,’ Tarantino stated
Tarantino went on to say that he believes actors should personally inspect their weapons to ensure there are no bullets in the barrel or other issues before using them in scenes; (Baldwin on set of Rust)
Halyna Hutchins, 42, was a mother-of-one and up-and-coming cinematographer when she was fatally shot on the set of ‘Rust’
The infamous gun fired on set that ended up killing cinematographer Hutchins
Rust armorer Hannah Guttierez-Reed was sentenced to 18 months in prison for the involuntary manslaughter of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins
The night before the incident, six members of the camera crew quit because of their concerns over safety.
Baldwin had twice been charged in Hutchins’s death. Prosecutors dismissed an earlier charge, then refiled it after receiving a new analysis of the revolver that Baldwin pointed at Hutchins.
Since the 2021 shooting, the filming of Rust resumed but moved to Montana under an agreement with Hutchins’s husband, Matthew Hutchins, which made him an executive producer.
The completed movie has not yet been released for public viewing.
