Following the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of Rust, people in and outside of the film industry have called for more oversight of the way film and TV productions deal with firearm safety. One of those voices is Elizabeth Hutton, the fiancee of the late actor Brandon Lee, who died in 1993 after being shot and killed by a gun that was supposed to be loaded with blanks. Hutton made a quiet post on Instagram last week, and then spoke with People magazine this week about the experience. Hutton has never been as vocal as Lee’s family, and kept her statement on the Rust situation fairly brief.
Lee’s death changed the face of safety in the film industry but, as filmmaker James Gunn recently noted, new rules are only as helpful as the people enforcing them. Each new tragedy is going to snap people back to reality, but for real, long-term change, that reality has to stick with people.
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“Twenty eight years ago, I was shattered by the shock and grief of losing the love of my life, Brandon Lee, so senselessly. My heart aches again now for Halyna Hutchins’ husband and son, and for all those left in the wake of this avoidable tragedy,” Hutton told People. “I urge those in positions to make change to consider alternatives to real guns on sets.”
“Our hearts go out to the family of Halyna Hutchins and to Joel Souza and all involved in the incident on Rust,” Lee’s sister tweeted from the official Brandon Lee Twitter account recently. “No one should ever be killed by a gun on a film set. Period.”
Hutchins passed away last week after a prop gun discharged while she was setting up the shot for a scene. Actor and producer Alec Baldwin was reportedly practicing for the scene after being told that the gun he had was “cold” — it had no ammunition in it. Law enforcement is currently investigating how this might have happened, and both Baldwin and the production have expressed regret. There were reportedly previous safety complaints, which led to a number of crew members to walk off not long before the incident. A number of producers, including The Boys‘s Eric Kripke, want to reform the industry so that guns used on set are not able to fire, and instead the muzzle flashes can be added in by visual effects. The story is developing as more information is released.
