Ian A Hudson: ‘Rust’ actor says filming felt ‘scary', feared accident like Brandon Lee
SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO: An actor in Alec Baldwin’s movie ‘Rust’ said that filming felt “life-threatening”. Baldwin fired a prop gun during the shooting, and killed the cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, on Thursday, October 21. The director of the movie Joel Souza was wounded as well.
Ian A Hudson told TMZ that he was terrified filming a scene in 'Rust' where his outlaw character was gunned down by others using 20 pistols and two rifles. “Everyone on the camera crew was protected by shields -- and the camera was protected by a shield,” he said, noting that only the lens could be seen poking through the protection.
RELATED ARTICLES
Halyna Hutchins slammed ‘selfish producers cutting corners on safety’ before death
Can prop guns kill? Don't blame Alec Baldwin as set armorer responsible, say experts
“So that made me question me being in front of the camera and sort of in between all that fire,” he said. “I actually did feel the blanks hitting my face and my body. I could feel the wind from the shotgun being discharged. He called ‘Rust’ a “terrifying” production on a “rushed schedule.” He added, “It was heavy. It was strong … It was life-threatening. It felt too surreal.”
Even before Baldwin accidentally shot Hutchins, he said that actors on the set openly discussed their fears that such a tragedy could happen. “I would talk to my fellow cast members afterward, and we all agreed how intense that was and how scary and real it was,” the New Mexico local said. “Brandon Lee having died in ’93 -- that conversation came up a couple times between my fellow cast members and I.”
In 1993, Brandon Lee, the 28-year-old son of actor and martial artist Bruce Lee, died after actor Michael Massee shot him in the abdomen on the set of the film 'The Crow'. The prop gun was supposed to be loaded with blank and “dummy” rounds but was somehow loaded with a .44-caliber bullet, police said. The North Carolina district attorney said the shooting was caused by the crew’s negligence, not foul play.
“Just, you know -- we’re doing this the same way they did it then, 30 years ago,” he said, adding that he “held his tongue” over a lot of his concerns because he is a “new actor” who didn’t “want to cause trouble.” He said, however, “Some of the other actors … were double- and triple-checking our weapons after the armorer gave them to us, whether they were cold or hot.”
Hudson also defended armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed, insisting the 24-year-old had been “doing a fantastic job” while “pressed for time as much as she was.” He said, “I even overheard Joel Souza, the director, praise her a couple of times for being as safe as she was and as consistent -- and speedy, too, keeping up with the rushed schedule.”
Earlier, a close friend of Hutchins, writer, and director Li Lu claimed that the cinematographer previously hit out at producers on recent projects for acting "selfishly and dangerously." She said, "The last time we spoke, you lamented how producers on recent projects acted selfishly and dangerously. How people who finance films thought their money could be traded for the decency, safety, and honor of all else on set.”