NM DA will charge Baldwin and armorer with manslaughter

[ZoWie]

No Hollywood wink-wink here...

Actor Alec Baldwin will be charged with involuntary manslaughter over the shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who was killed on a film set when he fired a prop gun.

Mr Baldwin had been rehearsing a scene for the Western film Rust when the shooting happened at a ranch near Sante Fe [sic -Z], New Mexico in October 2021.

Hannah Gutierrez Reed, the film's armourer, will also be charged with involuntary manslaughter.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-64337761

[gounion]

No Hollywood wink-wink here...

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-64337761

This astonishes me. You know the biz far more than me - how do you feel about this, Zowie?

[ZoWie]

I consider it an industrial accident, and have my doubts, but I'll wait and see if they can convince a jury.

The major problem is that I don't understand the law in New Mexico. There may well be a firearms mishandling incident here, and that might rise to culpability on the part of the armorer. Some of the stories from this shoot involve ongoing frequent irresponsible use of firearms by crew members doing what over-worked under-rested crew members do on locations in West Nowhere for months at a stretch. I can see a possible benefit to a court proceeding.

Far as Baldwin goes, there's more of a judgment call. It really all comes down to that old axiom, "Don't point a gun at anything you don't intend to kill," and whether the resulting negligence rises to lawbreaking. It'll be an interesting precedent.

[gounion]

I consider it an industrial accident, and have my doubts, but I'll wait and see if they can convince a jury.

The major problem is that I don't understand the law in New Mexico. There may well be a firearms mishandling incident here, and that might rise to culpability on the part of the armorer. Some of the stories from this shoot involve the irresponsible use of firearms by crew members doing what over-worked under-rested crew members do on locations in West Nowhere for months at a stretch. I can see a possible benefit to a court proceeding.

Far as Baldwin goes, there's more of a judgment call. It really all comes down to that old axiom, "Don't point a gun at anything you don't intend to kill," and whether the resulting negligence rises to lawbreaking. It'll be an interesting precedent.

In my only slightly-educated opinion, based upon what I know, it all falls upon the armorer, who is ultimately responsible for the weapons, real or not.

Plus the director and producers, if it were true that they were playing around and shooting with the movie guns during breaks and after hours. I've understood that to be strictly forbidden.

[ZoWie]

It is. Playing games with live weapons is just as frowned upon as it is in the military. They are not toys.

In fact, location shooting is more like war than people think. It's not war, but often the working environment isn't that different. You have people giving up their former lives for sometimes years at a stretch.

[gounion]

It is. Playing games with live weapons is just as frowned upon as it is in the military. They are not toys.

In fact, location shooting is more like war than people think. It's not war, but often the working environment isn't that different. You have people giving up their former lives for sometimes years at a stretch.

One of the funniest movies I ever saw about the biz was Ben Stiller's Tropic Thunder. It was quite the absurdist tale. I'm betting there's a lot of truth in the basis of the movie.

[ZoWie]

All the best depictions of the movie business are actually from movies. It doesn't take much exaggeration to satirize something that's already pretty funny when you detach yourself from the daily labor of it all. All this fuss over shadows dancing on a screen and the people whose shadows they are.

After a while everything becomes funny. I find CNBC to be hilarious. All those business leaders in their perfect suits and hair styles sitting in the snow being interviewed by some earnest TV reporter in some expensive ski resort, speculating wildly on how bad the recession will be, proving that even with all their number crunching they don't know any more than we do.

Media are my chief source of amusement. Blame the movie business.