On the 31st of March 1993, news broke around the world that actor Brandon Lee (son of legendary martial arts movie star Bruce Lee) had died during the filming of his latest movie ‘The Crow’.

As more details emerged, fans and filmmakers alike learned of the tragic circumstances surrounding the young star’s death. In one of his final scenes, Lee’s character was to be shot and killed, an event which would allow him to return from the dead and seek his revenge.

However, even prop guns are not always safe. In a 2014 interview with the website ‘Film Courage’, movie firearms specialist Dave Brown explained what went wrong.

“The production needed some dummy cartridges for a close-up shot of loading a revolver. Not knowing better, they purchased real cartridges from a local gun store, pried off the bullets, dumped out the gunpowder and stuck the bullets back into the cases. Now, any firearms expert would be able to tell you that this is highly dangerous because, of course, the primers were still live, but unfortunately they were running out of both time and money at this point and had already sent their only firearms expert home early to save a few dollars”.

Actors handling prop guns are supposed to be supervised, but production of ‘The Crow’ was beset by budget restrictions, and many safety precautions were overlooked in attempts to save money and meet deadlines (on the first day of filming, for example, a crew member was almost electrocuted).

An actor was hired to film some close-up shots of the gun being loaded, after which, according to witnesses, the actor playfully ‘fired’ the supposedly gimmicked gun a few times and was unsupervised while doing so.

Next, according to Brown, “What people may not know is that if the primer is still live, when you pull the trigger there is no sound but the spark from the primer can expel a bullet an inch or two forward even with no gunpowder in the case. At the end of the day, the props assistant emptied out the cartridges and put the gun away. He knew nothing about cleaning the gun, let alone checking the barrel for obstructions”.

Two weeks later, this same prop gun was pointed and fired at Brandon Lee.

The gun was not checked for safety and was instead loaded with blanks. However, blanks contain more gunpowder than real bullets, and the blank propelled the empty bullet out of the gun with the same force as a live round. Lee was hit, collapsed, and died in hospital 13 hours later.

Damningly, no firearms expert was present on set to ensure that the gun was safe or being used correctly.

In 2021, a similar incident occurred, this time involving actor Alec Baldwin. During the filming of the movie ‘Rust’, Baldwin accidentally shot and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, and is presently facing charges of involuntary manslaughter as a result.

In the Baldwin case, the star, who also doubled as one of Rust's producers, was working with Hutchins to establish good camera angles during a rehearsal. He pointed the gun at the camera, presumably to help her set up a compelling shot, unaware that the weapon contained a live round. When he fired, the bullet killed Hutchins, and wounded director Joel Souza.

Although legal proceedings in this matter are still ongoing at the time of writing, it appears that live rounds were somehow mixed with ‘dummy’ rounds (not to be confused with blanks) during production.

‘Rust’ is set in the 1880’s. For most period-specific films, actual weapons from the era are used. As Steven Hall, a veteran second-unit director with many credits to his name, told Canadian news organisation CBC,

"You have to use actual historic period weapons and to check the safety of those weapons. I have known live rounds to be fired out of revolvers, certainly, to make sure that they do function in a way that when you put a blank in, it isn't going to blow up or explode in the actor's hands."

This may explain how live rounds ended up in the gun, but not how the gun ended up in the actor’s hands.

The weapon was not checked by armourer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed (who also faces charges but has asserted that the supplier may be responsible for mixing live ammunition with blanks), or assistant director Dave Halls (who will serve a suspended sentence, as well as six months’ probation). Halls apparently handed the gun to Baldwin and told him that it was “cold” (a film industry term meaning ‘safe’). Baldwin also failed to check it for himself before pulling the trigger.

Initially, Baldwin claimed that the weapon simply discharged, and denied pulling the trigger. This has since been proven to be false.

In any instance, the deaths of Brandon Lee and Halyna Hutchins, which occurred some 3 decades removed from one another, were both entirely avoidable, if only proper safety measures had been observed.

As Dave Brown says, “Either do it right or don’t do it at all. Every filmmaker has a legal and moral obligation to protect the safety of everyone on their set, whether they are paid to be there or not. It doesn’t matter if it is a cast and crew of hundreds or you and two buddies making a short in your backyard”.

There is a long, sad history of weapons-related accidents occurring in Hollywood. In 1915, an extra named Charles Chandler was shot and killed on the set of ‘The Captive’. 5 years later, silent movie star Harold Lloyd would pick up what he thought was a prop bomb while doing publicity for his film ‘Haunted Spooks’. He ended up losing a thumb and finger for his troubles.

Other examples include extra Jack Budlong who was impaled on his own sword after falling from a horse during the filming of 1941’s ‘They Died With Their Boots on’, as well as the 1984 death of actor Jon Erik-Hexum, who was killed after he discharged a gun loaded with blanks against his skull while filming the movie ‘Cover Up’.

The list of tragic (and, in most cases, avoidable) accidents also includes Jean-Claude Van Damme accidentally striking actor Jackson ‘Rock’ Pinckney with a prop knife, causing Pinckney to lose his eye on the set of 1989’s ‘Cyborg’, Christopher Lambert losing part of his finger while sword fighting in ‘Highlander II: The Quickening’, Linda Hamilton suffering permanent hearing damage after firing a gun in an elevator without earplugs during ‘Terminator 2: Judgment Day’, and the 2010 filming of the final episode of popular TV series ‘Lost’, when Terry O’Quinn stabbed co-star Matthew Fox with what he thought was a prop knife, but was actually a real blade. Thankfully, Fox survived the accident.

In 2014, A camera operator, Sarah Jones, was killed while filming the movie ‘Midnight Rider’. Jones was hit by a train after the production crew failed to obtain the proper permissions needed to film on the tracks.

In the more modern cases detailed here, the truth could have been more easily and accurately determined had there been clear documentation of the safety procedures being utilised on set. This is one area that modern technology, such as camera phones and body cams can really improve.

For the remainder of this feature, we will examine the use of body cams on film and television sets and illustrate the many ways that they can help avoid tragedies like those detailed above.

2.   The Safe Use of Weaponry on Set

Prior to the 1980’s, weaponry on set (and, by extension, the safe handling of said weaponry) was the sole purview of the production’s prop master(s). These days, however, it is more common for weaponry to be handled by an ‘armourer’ or ‘weapons master’, usually a specialist in the kind of weapons being used (for example swords and bladed weapons, or weapons from a specific period) in the production.

The safe handling and use of weaponry is a specialist skill set. Weapons, by their very definition, are designed to maim and/or kill their targets. It therefore follows that even imitation or ‘gimmicked’ weaponry should always be handled with care.

A prop firearm is an imitation firearm that is, in most cases, designed to look and feel like the real thing. A prop that fires projectiles (even if it only fires blanks), is always considered to be a real gun. This distinction might seem pedantic, but it exists because anything that shoots projectiles is potentially dangerous.

‘Blanks’, for example, are a type of gun cartridge that contain powder, but no bullet. When the trigger is pulled, powder and gasses emerge from the gun’s barrel, but no bullets. This gives the gun the appearance of having been fired, without expelling any projectiles. For long-range shots, blanks can make for very effective visuals without harming anybody. At close range, however, even a blank can kill.

According to guidelines set out by the Actors’ Equity Association, a US-based actors’ union, “"Before each use, make sure the gun has been test-fired offstage, and then ask to test fire it yourself. Watch the prop master check the cylinders and barrel to be sure no foreign object or dummy bullet has become lodged inside."

The guidelines also state that, "All loading of firearms must be done by the property master, armourer or experienced persons working under their direct supervision."

As discussed earlier, the death of Brandon Lee was caused by a blank being fired that pushed an empty bullet from the chamber with as much force as a real bullet. Had the gun been properly checked, as these guidelines suggest, Lee would likely still be alive today.

The death of Halyna Hutchins would also have been avoided if these guidelines had been adhered to, as test firing the gun would have revealed that it contained live ammunition.

Of course, the AEA guidelines are just that, and are not legally enforced anywhere in the US. Following the Hutchins tragedy, Professor Dan Leonard from Chapman University in California, a specialist in on-set regulations, told BBC News, "It is generally left to the industry to develop and police the guidelines... and those guidelines if followed can allow for firearms to be used safely on set".

A more complete and stringent set of guidelines has also been published by the Industry-Wide Labor Management Safety Committee, in which rules governing the use of firearms are clearly outlined. These guidelines state, among several other requirements, that live ammunition should never be brought to or used on any studio lot or stage.

Certainly, there are other ways to simulate gunfire. Visual effects have now reached a point where gunfire can be created in post-production. However, effects such as these can be expensive, especially for smaller productions. In addition, critics point out that special effects can never adequately simulate the reality of firing a weapon.

In an interview with Variety, prop master Dutch Merrick said, “If you told the actors to fake the gunfire with a toy or replica, make it look like it’s firing, that’s baloney. You give him a real gun that really fires, and it’s dangerous out the front and shells go out the side and it gives him recoil, and it puts him in the environment and now you’ve got the realism that is the magic that is Hollywood. It is entirely safe, but it’s putting him in the environment, where it’s as real as possible. And it’s my job to make sure nobody gets hurt.”

Merrick also said, “You build a trust with your team by establishing those safety protocols and still working as part of the proactive team to creatively get the shot and the angle they want. (…) If I have to say ‘no,’ I will absolutely say ‘No, I’m very sorry we can’t do it that way. Let’s try another way.’”

One procedure that is widely used, though not legally mandated, in film and TV involves having the actor holding a prop gun (sometimes referred to as a ‘stunt gun’) right up until the moment they pull the trigger. A prop gun cannot fire under any circumstances, making it entirely safe for anybody to use. When the time comes to pull the trigger, however, the prop gun is replaced with a gun filled with blanks, which is then fired under safer conditions. As soon as the shot is complete, the armourer removes the real gun and filming continues with the prop.

This procedure was apparently not in place during the filming of ‘Rust’, however.

Clearly, standardized and legally mandated practices are needed throughout the American film and television industries. Safety guidelines, which can potentially be dismissed or discarded the moment they become inconvenient are simply not enough.

Interestingly, dashcam and bodycam footage of the immediate aftermath of the Baldwin incident was taken by the Santa Fe Sheriff's office. This footage offers a lot of insight into the confusion and chaos following the tragic scene, as a bewildered Baldwin is approached by officers, while EMTs make a vain attempt to resuscitate Hutchins.

At WTD, we’ve talked about body cams at great length, both as a useful tool for security operatives and law enforcement, as well as an issue of civil liberties. In this case, however, the police’s camerawork paints, we feel, an accurate picture of the events as they were witnessed.

Tags: film set body cameras