By Daniel Arkin -
NBC News
Hollywood tech masters use computers to create stunning visuals: the giant
sandworms
of
Dune
, the alien invaders of
A Quiet Place,
and the majestic dragons
of Marvel's
Shang-Chi
.
So why are pistols still used on movie sets when computer generated imagery (CGI) could replace the look, sound, and visceral impact of real ones?
That's one of the questions asked by many in the film industry following the death of 42-year-old director of photography Halyna Hutchins on the set of the western drama
Rust
.
The tragedy has prompted calls for a full reassessment of the way Hollywood uses guns.
Props expert Guillaume Delouche of Independent Studio Services holds up a pistol used on recording sets.DAVID MCNEW / AFP via Getty Images
Following Hutchins' death, some film and television professionals are calling on their colleagues to ban the use of real handguns on recording sites, and an online petition to do so has already garnered nearly 25,000 signatures by Monday.
['Rust' director claims Alec Baldwin was practicing drawing his gun when he fired himself]
A California state senator said he plans to introduce legislation banning firearms capable of firing live ammunition in state productions to "prevent this senseless violence and loss of life."
“With firearms, you just make one mistake and someone dies. There is simply no reason to take that risk, ”
said Democrat Dave Cortese in an interview with NBC News.
"We understand that [the industry] has established protocols ... but that has not been codified in state law."
Vigil in memory of Halyna Hutchins, killed by an accidental shooting of actor Alec Baldwin
Oct. 24, 202100: 29
Standard protocols dictate that guns must be supervised by licensed gunsmiths and that actors must receive safety training, among other rules.
Prop weapons are usually filled with blank rounds, but the pistol used in
Rust
contained somehow a lethal amount of live ammunition.
Cortese said he plans to organize investigative hearings while his office pushes through the text of the legislation.
The demands for change
Craig Zobel, director of the
Emmy-winning
HBO miniseries
Mare of Easttown
, drew one of the first lines in the sand after
Rust
actor and producer
Alec Baldwin fired the gun that killed Hutchins.
“There is no reason to have weapons loaded with blank bullets or anything like that on set anymore.
It should be totally forbidden, ”
Zobel tweeted early on Friday as the country absorbed the news.
[What are prop weapons, why are they so dangerous, and what could have gone wrong for Alec Baldwin to fire one fatally]
“Now there are computers.
The shooting at
Mare of Easttown
is all digital, ”he added.
“They'll probably show, but who cares?
It is an unnecessary risk ”.
This was the moments before Alec Baldwin's tragic shooting on the set of 'Rust'
Oct. 25, 202103: 50
He was soon joined by other producers and directors.
Alexi Hawley, the director of ABC's crime series
The Rookie
, stated in a memo to the cast and crew that "there will be no more 'real' guns in the series."
Going
forward, all the shooting at
The Rookie will
come from airsoft pistols - toy replicas that use buckshot instead of bullets - with CGI flares added in post-production, Hawley wrote in the memo, first reported by The Hollywood Reporter. and later confirmed by NBC News.
"Any risk is too much risk," he
wrote.
Eric Kripke, director of the Amazon sitcom
The Boys
, made a similar promise on Twitter.
Bandar Albuliwi, a filmmaker who graduated from the American Film Institute's conservatory five years before Hutchins, created a petition on Change.org that gathered nearly 25,000 signatures on Monday afternoon.
Actress and director Olivia Wilde shared the link on Twitter.
"Real weapons are no longer necessary on film production sets," the petition says.
"You have to change before more lives are lost."
Private security on the set of the movie 'Rust', in New Mexico;
on October 22, 2021.Andres Leighton / AP
The request also states that Baldwin, for his part, should use his "power and influence" in Hollywood to promote legislation called "Halyna's Law."
[Actor Alec Baldwin's accident is "extremely rare" but it is not the only tragic death in a movie shoot]
It is not yet clear what type of weapon Baldwin was holding at the time of the fatal shooting.
The Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office, which is investigating the incident, said it would hold a news conference Wednesday to discuss the investigation.
Is it feasible?
However, some industry professionals claim that there are a few reasons why banning the use of guns might not be practical for all productions, especially for freelance projects working with small budgets or tight crews.
In general, CGI increases the costs of a production's budget, and the process of adding visual effects to shots can take months.
“It's often easier and cheaper to actually fire the gun on set using a blank than to add a gun in CGI in post-production,”
says Anna Halberg, a film producer who has worked on large-scale science fiction and action projects. .
Walt Disney Pictures
has the financial resources and the time to add special effects to epic Marvel movies, for example, but small movies - or even TV shows that run on tighter schedules - don't have that fortune.
Complaints about Alec Baldwin's assistant director come to light
Oct. 25, 202101: 26
"In the television industry, the lead time is very short, so depending on the use of weapons in the project, it adds a lot of time to post-production," said Halberg, who produced the upcoming space drama.
Distant
, starring Anthony Ramos.
(NBC News and Universal Pictures,
Distant's
distributor
, are part of NBCUniversal.)
In addition, some Hollywood technicians and artists prefer the verisimilitude of using real weapons loaded with blank bullets.
The director can get a more authentic portrayal of an actor using a real gun, or so he thinks.
“I know a lot of actors prefer to use blank guns on set because they seem more real, rather than reacting to something that is going to be added in post-production.
They can feel the recoil of firing a bullet, so they feel like they get a better reaction from themselves, ”Halberg said.
["My heart is broken," Alec Baldwin laments after the shooting that killed a fellow filmmaker]
In a 2019 article for
American Cinematographer
magazine
, firearms instructor Dave Brown wrote: "Blank bullets contribute to the authenticity of a scene in a way that cannot be achieved in any other way."
"If the cinematographer is there to paint a story with light and framing, the firearms experts are there to enhance a story with drama and emotion," he added.