Questions on Baldwin Shooting Turn to Assistant Director
The New York Times
Complaints have emerged about his oversight of safety measures on previous productions.
ALBUQUERQUE — In the frantic moments after Alec Baldwin shot the cinematographer and the director of a Western being filmed in New Mexico, a script supervisor on the set called 911 with a desperate plea for help.
“We’ve had two people accidentally shot on a movie set,” the caller, Mamie Mitchell, told the 911 operator. Then Ms. Mitchell singled out the film’s assistant director as she described how it was his responsibility to make sure such mishaps never happen. “He’s supposed to check the guns,” Ms. Mitchell said in the emergency call.
After the 42-year-old cinematographer Halyna Hutchins died following the shooting on Thursday, detectives from the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office began examining the role that the assistant director, Dave Halls, among others on the set, had in the incident. They learned that Mr. Baldwin was told by Mr. Halls, who handed him the firearm, that it was a “cold gun,” according to court documents. A cold gun on a film set typically refers to a gun that’s unloaded.
