Friends and colleagues of Helena Hutchins gathered to pay tribute to the cinematographer.
Burbank, United States:
Shell-shocked friends and colleagues of Helena Hutchins gathered on Sunday to pay tribute to the cinematographer who was killed by Alec Baldwin being shot with a prop gun on the film’s set.
When Hollywood lifted a vigil for Hutchins, anguish and anger were on display, as questions arose as to how such a tragedy could have happened, despite strict security measures.
“I had the pleasure of working with Halina,” said actress Sharon Leal. “She was an amazing woman and that’s all, we are all so shocked.”
Hollywood displayed anguish and anger for Helena Hutchins as she alerted him.
Hutchins, 42, suffered a chest injury when Baldwin fired a prop gun Thursday on the set of the low-budget western “Rust” in New Mexico, which he was told was safe. He was declared brought dead at the hospital hours later.
Director Joel Souza, 48, who was leaning behind him for a shot, was also killed. Doctors treated him and sent him home.
Police are still investigating the shooting, and have executed a search warrant on the set, where, among other things, they wanted to see if a rehearsal on film was caught.
Baldwin is interviewed by detectives in Santa Fe, and says he is cooperating fully with the investigation.
A man holds a candle by candlelight for cinematographer Helena Hutchins.
Attention has also turned to the film’s assistant director, Dave Hall, who handed the weapon to the actor, and Hannah Gutierrez-Reid, 24, at the weapon.
No one has been charged, and no arrests have been made in connection with what police describe as an “ongoing investigation.”
But as many Hollywood insiders gathered in the suburbs of Los Angeles on Sunday, there was clear anger about what happened.
“They want to make it look really big in low-budget productions,” said director Gustavo Sampaio, who worked with Hutchins four years ago.
People attend by candlelight for cinematographer Helena Hutchins.
“So they cut corners and they put safety in the backseat when it really should be at the forefront of everything that is done on a set.”
That sentiment was echoed by producer Sabrina Ortley.
“I can tell you that as a producer, someone dropped the ball. Someone decided to go with the bottom line, which means keep your budget…cheap.”
‘No excuse’
Calls were mounting to ban live firearms on movie sets, with a petition on Change.org garnering more than 22,000 signatures as of Sunday evening.
“There is no excuse for something like this to happen in the 21st century,” says the text of a petition started by Bandar Albulivi, a screenwriter and director.
Dave Cortés, a Democrat elected to the California Senate, said on Saturday he would move a bill banning live ammunition on film sets in California.
Helena Hutchins, who was accidentally killed by a prop gun fired by actor Alec Baldwin.
“There is an urgent need to address hazardous work abuse and safety breaches that occur on the set of theatrical productions, including unnecessary high-risk situations such as the use of live firearms.”
According to industry publication The Hollywood Reporter, Los Angeles Police’s hit drama “The Rookie” decided to ban all live ammunition from its sets the day after shooting.
But some industry professionals said the use of weapons on the film was not the problem.
Movie Armor SL Huang wrote on Twitter, he worked on hundreds of film sets without incident, thanks to stringent safety protocols and built-in redundancy.
“The tragedy happening in this particular way is against everything I know about how we deal with guns on film sets,” she wrote.
“My colleagues and I are trying to figure out how this can happen while following our basic safety procedures and we keep ending up at a loss.
“Which means … that very basic, very standard safety procedures may not have been followed. And nobody stopped production when they weren’t.”
The Los Angeles Times reported this week that the crew was upset about safety and working conditions.
The paper cited crew members on set as saying that three prop weapons were unexpectedly discharged prior to Thursday’s tragedy.
The production company has not responded to AFP’s requests for comment.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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