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Who will be held accountable for the fatal shooting on set?
The head electrician on the film set of Alec Baldwin’s movie rust is suing the actor and other crew members
The head of lighting is a friend of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. She was accidentally shot dead on the movie set last month.
The electrician has filed a lawsuit against Alec Baldwin and others, alleging negligence that resulted in “severe emotional distress”.
He says the bullet narrowly missed him.
“I still cannot believe that she is no longer with us,” the head of lighting, Serge Svetnoy said Wednesday during a news conference.
“What a tragedy and injustice when a person loses her life on film set while making art.”
Svetnoy’s general-negligence lawsuit was filed earlier Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court.
“This incident was caused by the negligent acts and omissions of the defendants,” the lawsuit states according to the Los Angeles Times.
“Simply put, there was no reason for a live bullet to be placed in that Colt .45 revolver or to be present anywhere on the ‘Rust’ set.”
Who will be held accountable?
Mitra Ahouraian is an LA-based entertainment attorney and founder of her namesake firm, Ahouraian Law and she says this all signs point to Baldwin did not know that the gun was loaded.
“As an actor who’s production companies attached typically, they’re not very involved in the day to day production, it’s more like a credit and a fee and affiliation. So it’s really going to be the production company for the film. But if it does come down to the point of any individual’s being charged criminally, if there’s bound to be some criminal fault there, then that could potentially come into play in the civil lawsuit,” she told ticker news.
I mean, we’re seeing labour shortages and people were complaining about being overworked on this particular movie set. Could this be the reason why here?
How did the live rounds get put into a prop gun?
The prosecutor was on Good Morning America recently, and Ahouraian says she was saying one of the things that they’re most concerned with is figuring out how the live rounds got there to begin with.
“So I think that’s the most important question, and really not what happened at the moment of the shooting, but everything that happened leading up to that,” Ahouraian says.
“I don’t think it had anything to do with, you know, hours and the things that sort of were coming up in the ISC strike because it all kind of coincided at that time.”
But surely a gunshot can be performed without the real bullets?
Ahouraian says it comes down to cost.
“Doing things in post production isn’t always cheap. Sometimes it’s a lot easier to get the shots you need by having the real prop there. But if I was watching and it didn’t look as real and people weren’t, you know, we’re at less risk of dying. I think I’d be okay with that.”