‘Rust’ crew member who gave gun to Alec Baldwin accused of safety issues on past production
- Dave Halls was previously the subject of safety complaints on Hulu series ‘Into the Dark’ in 2019
- ‘Rust’ cinematographer Halyna Hutchins died after Alec Baldwin fired gun on set
A crew member says she has raised safety concerns in the past about the assistant director who authorities say unwittingly handed actor Alec Baldwin the prop gun that killed a cinematographer on a film set.
Crew member Maggie Goll said in a statement that she filed an internal complaint with the executive producers of Hulu’s Into the Dark series in 2019 over concerns about assistant director Dave Halls’ behaviour on set. Goll said in an email on Sunday that Halls disregarded safety protocols for weapons and pyrotechnics and tried to continue filming after a crew member had “slipped into a diabetic fugue state.”
Halls has not returned phone calls and email messages seeking comment.
Baldwin fired a prop gun on the New Mexico set of the film Rust on Thursday, killing 42-year-old Halyna Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza, who was standing behind her.
The gun Baldwin used was one of three that a firearms specialist, or “armourer,” had set on a cart outside the building where a scene was being rehearsed, according to court records. Halls grabbed a gun off a cart and handed it to Baldwin, indicating that the weapon was safe by yelling “cold gun,” court papers say. Instead, it was loaded with live rounds, according to the records.
Baldwin, 63, who is known for his roles in 30 Rock and The Hunt for Red October and his impression of former President Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live, has described the killing as a “tragic accident.”
Rust Movie Productions did not answer emails seeking comment on Friday or Saturday.
Alec Baldwin shooting resurfaces memories of Brandon Lee’s death
Baldwin, who is a producer on Rust, met Hutchins’ husband and nine-year-old son on Saturday at a hotel in Santa Fe where the actor had been staying during filming. Baldwin and Hutchins’ husband can be seen embracing in a photo published by the New York Post. Another shows a defeated-looking Baldwin walking on the hotel grounds pushing a luggage trolley.
Goll, a prop maker and licensed pyrotechnician, said in her email that Halls’ behaviour on set has concerned her in the past.
She said that, during work on Into the Dark, Halls did not hold safety meetings and consistently failed to announce the presence of a firearm on set to the crew, as is protocol. The assistant prop master admonished Halls several times for dismissing the actors and actresses before they had returned weapons to the props table, she said.
“The only reason the crew was made aware of a weapon’s presence was because the assistant prop master demanded Dave acknowledge and announce the situation each day,” she wrote.
She filed an internal complaint with the executive producers of Blumhouse Productions, she said.
“To my knowledge nothing was done after my complaints,” she wrote.
“I am gutted at not pushing harder for greater accountability and safety. Many of us have messaged each other wondering the same thing: is there something we could have done then that would have prevented the tragedy?” she said. “It is a horrible feeling.”
Additional reporting by Tribune News Service
