Who is Dave Halls? AD on 'Rust' set handed live gun to Alec Baldwin, said it's safe
Halyna Hutchins' death has shaken up the already troubled film and television industry. The ongoing fight by the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) for crew safety hopefully might turn a new corner after the award-winning cinematographer was shot dead by a gun Alec Baldwin unloaded, thinking it was a prop. An investigation into how the gun with live rounds ended up on the sets is underway and detectives submitted a search application warrant, the details of which have been made public. A 24-year-old armorer and an assistant director on set have been named in the warrant. Here's what to know about their involvement.
Before we further discuss how and why these crew members were named in the warrant, here are some recent incidents where industry veterans have spoken out against the lack of safety on their respective sets, especially for their crews. Kristen Bell took to Instagram to speak about the strenuous work hours for the crew members who arrive on sets much earlier than the actors and leave hours after wrap up. Ruby Rose spoke about how she and the rest of the crew had to watch a woman become quadriplegic and witness the skin fall off from the face of another after suffering third-degree burns on the sets of 'Batwoman'. She said network bosses or the showrunners didn't offer any therapy to the rest of the crew who were present when the tragedy unfolded. She also revealed that she could've ended up blind after suffering serious injuries while on sets.
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Who is assistant director Dave Halls?
According to a report citing court documents, the gun with live rounds was one of the three weapons that the film's armorer, Hannah Gutierrez, had set on a cart outside the wooden structure while a scene of 'Rust' was being enacted. Assistant director Dave Halls then picked it up from there, brought the gun to Alec Baldwin, at the time unaware that it was loaded with live rounds, the detective's notes read. Halls announced "cold gun" when he brought it to Baldwin and told the actor that the firearm was safe for use, according to the warrant filed in Santa Fe, Arizona.
According to IMDb, Halls is an assistant director and an actor. Some of the film credits to his name include 'The Matrix Reloaded', "Brawl in Cell Block 99', and 'Fargo'. According to LinkedIn, he has been an AD for feature films, TV series, and commercials since 1990. Other titles to his credit include 'A Simple Plan', 'Simpatico', 'The Naked Man', 'Down in the Valley', and 'Bad Santa' amongst others. According to the Sun, Halls also worked on 'The Crow: Salvation', the sequel to the 1993 film 'The Crow' where actor Brandon Lee was tragically killed in a similar gun mishap.