While some filmmakers have chosen to abolish real weapons forever in the wake of the rust tragedy, Quentin Tarantino will do nothing of the sort. “I guess I can add digital erections to porn movies, but who the fuck wants to see that?” he commented rather, er, impressively on a recent episode of Bill Maher’s Club Random Podcast (via diversity). “It’s exciting to shoot the blanks and see the orange, the real orange fire, not the extra orange fire.”
In a spin doctor feat that would impress even the “guns don’t kill people, people kill people” faction, he added, “Of all the guns we’ve fired in movies, there are only two examples of people being shot on set by a gun accident,” referring to the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on rust Set and actor Brandon Lee during the filming of the original The Crow“This is a damn good record.”
But while the above is more than just macabre, Tarantino urges everyone involved to be cautious when handling firearms. “I think I’m fair enough when I say that the gunsmith, the guy who gives him the gun, is 90% responsible for everything that happens with that gun. But the actor is 10% responsible,” Tarantino said in reference to the rust situation. “It’s a weapon! You bear some responsibility.”
Last spring rust Weapons Master Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was found guilty of negligent homicide and sentenced to 18 months in prison for their role in Hutchins’ death. Alec Baldwin, who fired the gun in question, had his own case of manslaughter dismissed “with prejudice” after it was discovered that authorities had withheld evidence. But if you listen to Tarantino, the blame lies with both parties. “If there are steps you have to go through, you go through them. It’s done with due diligence and you know it’s damn serious,” he said.
“That’s how an actor can handle it,” he continued. “If they go through the steps they’re supposed to go through… Like the barrel is clear, they show you that the barrel is clear and there’s nothing jammed in it. They actually show you the barrel. And then they show you a version of ‘Here are the blanks and here’s the gun.’ Now it’s ready to go.”
In a Vanity Fair Interview earlier this month, his first since he was injured by a fragment of the bullet that killed Hutchins, rust director Joel Souza expressed a very different opinion. “My recommendation is this: There should never be any guns allowed. Nothing real that you can fire anything from,” he said. “From now until eternity everything should be imitation. And there should still be gun masters, even if it is imitation, because without gun masters they are still not safe.”
