Awful news from the set of Alec Baldwin’s Rust film. Due to a prop gun misfiring, a 42-year-old female crewmember has died. Another crewmember, a 42-year-old male is in emergency care.
A spokesperson for the film gave a comment to Deadline. Representing Movie Productions LLC, the person said, “There was an accident today on the New Mexico set of Rust involving the misfire of a prop gun with blanks. Two crew members have been taken to the hospital and are receiving care. Production has been halted for the time being. The safety of our cast and crew remains our top priority.”
According to Deadline, a “principal castmember” fired the gun not knowing there were live rounds in it. They hit two people, a man, and a woman. The man was shot in the shoulder while the woman was taken to the hospital for stomach surgery. After being airlifted to the hospital, the woman passed away.
The Santa Fe County Sheriff’s office did an investigation at the scene. They determined and confirmed that the crewmember had passed away. The set was located at the Bonanza Creek Ranch where the western is being filmed. Currently, the male crewmember is still in emergency care.
When the incident occurred, the production company released the following statement on the matter.
“There was an accident today on the New Mexico set of Rust involving the misfire of a prop gun with blanks. Two crew members have been taken to the hospital and are receiving care. Production has been halted for the time being. The safety of our cast and crew remains our top priority.
Alec Baldwin Film ‘Rust’ the Latest in Western Genre
The film, Rust, stars Alec Baldwin as Harland Rust, a western outlaw. Also, the film is based on a story written by Joel Souza and Baldwin. During the story, Rust must save his 13-year-old grandson from hanging for an accidental murder. Western films have had prop guns since their inception. Now, with this onset tragedy, the production will be on pause for some time.
This film is set to be the latest big-name western. Clint Eastwood’s latest film, Cry Macho, received a mild box office reception. While fans are starting to move out to the theater again, they aren’t quite ready to pack the seats. Now, Baldwin along with Travis Fimmel, Brady Noon, Frances Fisher, and Jensen Ackles will try to out-perform the Eastwood film. However, that goal is overshadowed by the accidental shooting that occurred.
A local reporter tweeted, “Security guard at the entrance to the set of “Rust”, a western movie in production in #SantaFe, told us the set is on lockdown right now. Couldn’t share anything else.” So it appears that the set is being held down. There is no timeline for when production will continue.
