Who is Rust assistant director Dave Halls?
TRAGEDY struck the set of Rust when cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was accidentally shot and killed by a prop gun on Thursday, October 21, 2021.
According to reports, assistant director Dave Halls handed Alec Baldwin the prop gun.
Who is Rust assistant director Dave Halls?
Although not much is publicly known about assistant director Dave Halls, he has been in headlines recently due to his involvement with the accidental shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
According to IMDB, Halls has been in the film industry since the 1990s. He has 83 credits under his name as a second unit director or assistant director.
The first film he is credited to have worked on released on TV in 1996, and is called The Right to Remain Silent.
He's also known for his work on movies like The Matrix Reloaded, Hannah Montana: The Movie, and Sassy Pants.
Halls has also worked on television shows like Bones and Reno 911!.
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His profile also shows three acting credits, Rust being one of them.
In 2000, Halls worked on the film The Crow: Salvation. During filming, actor Brandon Lee was killed in a similar gun mishap.
Brandon Lee was the son of Bruce Lee, and died after being hit by a prop gun that was supposed to set off blanks but instead fired a live round.
Read our Alec Baldwin shooting live blog for the very latest news and updates...
What happened on the set of Rust?
On Thursday, October 21, 2021, actor Alec Baldwin fired a prop gun, accidentally striking and killing Halyna Hutchins, the cinematographer. The gun also injured director Joel Souza.
According to reports, the film's armorer, Hannah Gutierrez, had placed three weapons on a cart outside the set where a scene in Rust was being filmed.
Assistant director, Dave Halls, picked up one of the weapons - a prop gun - and handed it to Alec Baldwin. At the time, he told Baldwin it was a cold gun.
A cold gun is a term for a firearm that is safe to use, as it does not involve the use of gunpowder or other explosive materials.
Documents show that Halls believed the gun was not loaded at the time.
According to a warrant, the prop gun that went off was taken as evidence, as well as the blood-stained clothes Baldwin was wearing.
Is Dave Halls known for being in unsafe working environments?
According to a prop maker that once worked with Halls, the assistant director has previously allowed unsafe working environments on set.
Maggie Goll, a prop maker, worked with Halls on Hulu's Into the Dark series in 2019.
"He did not maintain a safe working environment," Goll said to .
"Sets were almost always allowed to become increasingly claustrophobic, no established fire lanes, exits blocked… safety meetings were nonexistent."
Goll also described Halls, saying: "at first he seemed like an older, affable first [assistant director] with the usual run of idiosyncrasies, but that facade soon disappeared."
According to people familiar with the set of Rust, safety issues weren't uncommon during filming.
At one point, a different prop weapon misfired in a closed cabin.
The day of the fatal accident, seven of the film's camera crew reportedly stormed off set due to safety concerns.
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According to reports, one crew member wrote on Facebook: "We cited everything from lack of payment for three weeks, taking our hotels away despite asking for them in our deals, lack of Covid safety, and on top of that, poor gun safety!
"Poor on-set safety period!"
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