Alec Baldwin’s manslaughter trial over his involvement in the fatal shooting of Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was dismissed last month, but filmmaker Quentin Tarantino believes that Baldwin was “10 percent responsible.“
While sitting down with Bill Maher on the Club Random podcast, Maher asked Tarantino how the shooting could be Baldwin’s fault. “Like either you think he purposely shot that cinematographer or you think he didn’t purposely shoot her,” Maher said. “And if he didn’t purposely shoot her, then it’s all f**king bullshit. Am I wrong?“
“No,” Tarantino responded. “I think I’m being fair enough to say that the armorer, the guy who hands him the gun, is 90 percent responsible for everything that happens when it comes to that gun,” adding that “the actor is 10 percent responsible. It’s a gun. You are a partner in the responsibility to some degree.”
Tarantino added that if Baldwin “went through the steps that he’s supposed to go through, then he [should know better].” For example, if an actor has “three hot rounds” going into a scene, and “if one of the rounds doesn’t go off while he does his ‘bam, bam, bam,’ then he should cut the scene and say, ‘Guys, one of the rounds didn’t go off. I think I’m still holding a hot gun here.“
While the tragic death of Hutchins has sparked debate on the use of guns on set, with some believing that blank rounds aren’t necessary when the effect can just be added in post-production, Tarantino isn’t ready to take that step. “I guess I can add digital erections to porno, but who wants to f**king watch that?” Tarantino said. “[It’s] exciting to shoot the blanks and to see the real orange fire and not add orange fire.“
Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer threw out Baldwin’s case after learning how police and prosecutors treated a handful of bullets, which they failed to turn over to the defence. “The state has repeatedly made representations to the defense and to the court that they were compliant with all their discovery obligations,” Judge Sommer said. “Despite their repeated representations, they have continued to fail to disclose critical evidence to the defendant. The state is highly culpable for its failure to provide discovery to the defendant. Dismissal with prejudice is warranted.” Special prosecutor Kari Morrissey later said that Judge Sommer made a mistake and that the case was improperly dismissed. Have we heard the last of this? Probably not.