Halyna Hutchins' Tragic On-Set Death Is A Reminder About Safety In Hollywood
Hollywood mourns the loss of Halyna Hutchins, the DP who was fatally shot in an on-set accident by the film's star Alec Baldwin on Thursday while filming his upcoming Western Rust. Her tragic death serves as a constant reminder of how important the need for safety guidelines on film and television sets truly are. Though on-set safety has become pinnacle to the industry, past accidents such as this are an unfortunate risk even when every precaution is taken.
One of the most talked about tragedies in Hollywood history happened to Brandon Lee, son of legendary martial arts actor Bruce Lee, on the set of the most popular film of his short career. In a scene where Lee's character of Eric Draven is shot by one of the thugs attacking his fiancee. In a lawsuit filed by Lee's mother Linda Lee Caldwell, the issue had to do with poor handling of firearms on set,
During a test firing of the dummy ammunition, a bullet tip wound up in the barrel of the handgun that was later used by actor Michael Massee in the March 30 scene resulting in Lee's death the following day. Massee, who is named as a defendant, fired at the actor, who was not wearing armor or a bulletproof vest, from a distance of less than 20 feet. The tip "was hurled from the barrel of the handgun and struck Brandon Lee in the abdomen with great force and violence, creating an entry wound approximately the size of a silver dollar," the complaint states. According to the complaint, the gun used by Massee was not inspected by the property masters responsible for making sure it was safe.
A tragedy for everyone involved, stunt people have also met tragic ends in the service of film making. To point out, a stuntman for Vin Diesel lost his life during the filming of XXX. In the scene, Harry O'Connor was portraying Diesel's character paragliding into a shot over Prague. According to Iva Knolova of the Prague Police Department,
He was being pulled at high speed on a paraglider and hit a pillar of the Palacky bridge. He died on the spot due to heavy injuries.
O'Connor was a skilled stuntman with Navy Seal training who was 45 at the time of the accident and left behind a wife and two children.
We would also like to remember, stunt technician Conway Wickliffe, 41, who met a similar fate while setting up a shot for Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight. According to reports, he was riding in the backseat of a Nissan 4x4 when the car crashed into a tree at 20mph. He had been leaning out of the window and operating a camera, which was shooting a stunt car travelling parallel to his vehicle.
But sometimes, blatant negligence has led studios to be more aware of the dangers of working on a set where child actors are involved during stunt sequences. In one of the most heartbreaking examples of such accidents, Director John Landis violated child labor laws filming The Twighlight Zone: The Movie, which led to the death of two child actors and Vic Morrow, who was the lead in the film segment.
In the scene, Morrow and the two children were killed when a pyrotechnic went off at the wrong time, causing a helicopter to lose its back propeller, decapitating Morrow and one of the children, while crushing the other child under the fallen helicopter. Ladis evidently had not gone through the proper channels to have the children work on the set that night.
This sort of disregard for safety has led to safer onset environments over the years, helping to ensure the well being of those involved.
While so many in the film industry follow proper procedure and practices, accidents like the one that led to the death of Halyna Hutchins do happen and affect the lives of so many, both personally and going forward for those who are left behind to keep creating after such a tragedy.
Our hearts go out to Halyna Hutchin's family and everyone who carries on the legacy of film making during these painful times.
