Cinematographer and Hollywood’s rising star, Halyna Hutchins, was killed by a prop gun on the set of ‘Rust’. The actor who pulled the trigger is Alec Baldwin. This accident is strengthening the fact that movie sets can be a dangerous environment and strict safety protocols must be enforced.
Tragedy in Hollywood
On the set of the movie “Rust” in New Mexico, its director of photography was killed and movie director injured after actor Alec Baldwin discharged a prop firearm on Thursday, according to a law enforcement statement provided to CNN. Director of photography Halyna Hutchins, 42, was transported to the hospital via helicopter and pronounced dead by medical personnel at the University of New Mexico Hospital. The prop gun misfired, Deadline reports when Baldwin was holding it on the set. Baldwin was questioned by authorities and was seen in tears. Authorities are trying to determine if the incident was an accident as well as what type of projectile was discharged.
Women cinematographers have historically been kept from genre film, and it seems especially cruel that one of the rising stars who was able to break through had her life cut short on the kind of project we’ve been fighting for.
Cinematographer Elle Schneider
Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins: Hollywood’s rising star
Fellow cinematographer Elle Schneider, a friend of Hutchins’, wrote on Twitter in the wake of her death, “Women cinematographers have historically been kept from genre film, and it seems especially cruel that one of the rising stars who was able to break through had her life cut short on the kind of project we’ve been fighting for”. Halyna Hutchins was a Los Angeles-based cinematographer. She grew up on a Soviet military base in the Arctic Circle and previously worked as a journalist with British documentary productions in Europe. After moving to Los Angeles, she graduated from the AFI Conservatory with MFA in Cinematography and has recently finished shooting her sixth feature film, an art-house action Archenemy, directed by Adam Egypt Mortimer and produced by SpectreVision. “Darlin’”, a horror feature lensed by Halyna and directed by Pollyanna McIntosh (The Walking Dead), has premiered at the SXSW film festival 2019 and had limited theatrical release in the US while playing internationally at the Edinburgh Film Festival, Fantasia, London FrightFest, BiFan and Sitges among many others. Halyna was one of the 8 Female Cinematographers for the 21 Century Fox DP Lab as well as featured in American Cinematographer as one of the industry’s “Rising Stars of Cinematography 2019”.
Halyna was one of the 8 Female Cinematographers for the 21 Century Fox DP Lab as well as featured in the February issue of American Cinematographer as one of the industry’s “Rising Stars of Cinematography 2019”.
2 days ago, at the same set of ‘Rust’, she wrote on her Instagram: “One of the perks of shooting a western is you get to ride horses on your day off:)”
Movie set as a dangerous environment
Our most recent article which covers the new trailer of Michael Bay’s Ambulance, showed an example of the risks during film set, especially when shooting action sequences. The eagerness of getting the most epic shots can result in elevated risks to the film crew. However, in the case of ‘Rust’, the safety protocols must be examined and investigated. This is the second time that an accident like this happens. Brandon, the son of the late action star Bruce Lee, was killed on the set of The Crow in 1993 after an actor fired a gun that he believed to be loaded with blanks. The actor shot from a distance of 15-20 feet and hit Lee in his abdomen. It was later discovered that the tip of a dummy cartridge was lodged in the gun and fired at the actor along with the blank. It appears that Hollywood learned nothing from that case. Thus, a meticulous investigation accompanied by drawing conclusions must be performed ASAP.
