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- Real firearms are routinely used while cameras are rolling, and injuries of any kind are rare. The reason is that safety protocols for firearms on sets are well established and straight forward. Weapons must be tightly managed by an armorer, sometimes credited on films as a “weapons master,” who holds various government-issued permits.
www.nytimes.com/2021/10/22/business/prop-guns-baldwin-shooting.htmlHere's Why Films Use Real Guns as Props on Set - The New York ...
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- Overview
- The demands for change
- Is it feasible?
Hollywood’s technical maestros use computers to create eye-popping visual effects: the giant sandworms of “Dune,” the alien invaders of “A Quiet Place,” the majestic dragons of Marvel’s “Shang-Chi.”
So why are guns still used on movie sets when computer-generated images, or CGI, might substitute for the look, sound and visceral shock of the real thing?
That’s one of the questions many in the film industry are asking after the death of the cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, 42, on the set of the Western drama “Rust.” The tragedy is prompting calls for a wholesale re-evaluation of the way Hollywood uses guns.
In the wake of Hutchins’ death, some film and television professionals are pleading with their peers to ban real guns on sets — an online petition to do just that had amassed nearly 25,000 signatures by Monday morning.
A California state senator said he plans to introduce legislation that would outlaw firearms capable of firing live ammunition on productions in the state to “prevent this type of senseless violence and loss of life.”
“With firearms, you only get one mistake and somebody’s dead. There’s just no reason to take that risk,” Dave Cortese, a Democrat, said in an interview. “We understand [the industry] has protocols in place ... but that’s not been codified in state law.”
Craig Zobel, the director of the Emmy-winning HBO miniseries “Mare of Easttown,” drew one of the first lines in the sand after “Rust” actor and producer Alec Baldwin fired the gun that killed Hutchins.
“There’s no reason to have guns loaded with blanks or anything on set anymore. Should just be fully outlawed,” Zobel tweeted early Friday while the country absorbed the news.
“There’s computers now. The gunshots on ‘Mare of Easttown’ are all digital,” he added. “You can probably tell, but who cares? It’s an unnecessary risk.”
He was soon joined by other producers and directors. Alexi Hawley, the showrunner of the ABC police procedural “The Rookie,” said in a memo to cast and crew members that there would be “no more ‘live’ weapons on the show.”
In the future, all gunfire on “The Rookie” will come from airsoft guns — replica toys that use pellets instead of bullets — with CGI muzzle flashes added in post-production, Hawley wrote in the memo, first reported by The Hollywood Reporter and confirmed by NBC News.
“Any risk is too much risk,” he wrote.
Some industry professionals say there are a few reasons banning the use of guns on sets might not be practical for all productions, especially independent projects working with small budgets or tiny crews.
In general, CGI adds costs to a production’s budget, and adding visual effects to shots can take months.
“It’s oftentimes easier and more economical to actually discharge your weapon on set using a blank than it is to add a gun in CGI in post-production,” said Anna Halberg, a film producer who has worked on large-scale sci-fi and action projects.
Walt Disney Pictures has the financial resources and the lead time to add special effects to Marvel epics, for example, but small-scale movies — or even television shows operating on tighter turnaround schedules — are usually not so fortunate.
“You’ve got a very short delivery window in the TV industry, and so depending on how gun-heavy the project is, it definitely adds a lot of time in post-production,” said Halberg, who produced the coming space drama “Distant,” starring Anthony Ramos. (NBC News and Universal Pictures, the distributor of “Distant,” are both part of NBCUniversal.)
In addition, some Hollywood technicians and craftspeople prefer the verisimilitude that comes with using real guns loaded with blanks. The director might be able to draw a more authentic performance out of an actor using an actual weapon, or so the thinking goes.
Oct 23, 2021 · Generally, a weapons master or armorer oversees all weapons that are used on a production. This can mean anything from selecting the correct items for a certain period in history, to taking care of the weapons on set and making sure they are being used safely and properly by actors and stuntpeople.
Oct 23, 2021 · As police continue to investigate the fatal shooting of Ukrainian cinematographer Halyna Hutchins by actor Alec Baldwin, we take a look at the use of prop firearms in film productions and the ...
Oct 25, 2021 · What’s a prop gun and why are real guns used on movie sets? The tragic death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins has put the issue of gun safety on film and TV sets in the crosshairs. How do guns ...
Oct 22, 2021 · A look at how firearms are employed — and regulated — on film productions. A cinema armourer handles a gun in an armoury in La Courneuve, near Paris, on Oct. 22, 2021. There are numerous ...
Oct 25, 2021 · Incidents like the one on the set of Rust are incredibly rare, but calls have grown for a ban on live firearms on film sets, with a petition gathering more than 23,000 signatures by Monday.
