George Clooney has branded the fatal shooting on 'Rust' "insane".
George Clooney has raised questions about the Rust shooting
Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed last month and director Joel Souza injured when lead star Alec Baldwin shot a prop gun during a rehearsal on the set of the Western, and the 60-year-old actor-and-director has suggested a lack of experience behind the scenes played a part in the tragedy.
Branding the shooting "insane", he said on the 'WTF with Marc Maron' podcast: “Why for the life of me this low-budget film, with producers who haven’t produced anything, wouldn’t have hired, for the armourer, someone with experience."
Referring to the set's armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, he added: “It’s infuriating that you get to this place where the places that you’re skimping on. I don’t believe there’s any intent by anybody to do anything wrong. But a 24-year-old person with that little experience shouldn’t be heading up a department with the guns and bullets on it. It should change a lot...
“We need to be better at making the heads of department experienced and know what they’re doing. Because this is just infuriating."
George was also baffled by reports that Alec was handed the gun by assistant director David Halls because he insisted that wasn't usual protocol.
He said: “I’ve been on sets for 40 years and the person that hands you the gun, the person that is responsible for the gun is either the prop person or the armour. Period.
“Every single time I’m handed a gun on set, I look at it, I open it, I show it to the person I’m pointing it to, we show it to the crew, every single take you hand it back to the armour when you’re done, and you do it again. Everyone does it.”
And the 'Midnight Sky' star insisted he had never heard the term "cold gun", indicating the weapon was safe to use.
He said: "I’ve never heard of the term ‘cold gun’, they’re just talking about stuff I’ve never heard of. It’s infuriating.”
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