Inexperienced 'Rust' Armorer Enraged Nicolas Cage on Previous Film: 'You Just Blew My F-ing Eardrums

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the 24-year-old armorer who handled weapons on the set of Alec Baldwin’s “Rust,” was the subject of numerous complaints on her previous film just two months earlier after she discharged weapons without warning and infuriated star Nicolas Cage, a crew member told TheWrap.

Stu Brumbaugh, who served as key grip on the Cage Western “The Old Way” this summer, told TheWrap that Gutierrez upset both Cage and other crew members on the Montana production by failing to follow basic gun safety protocols like announcing the arrival and usage of weapons onto the set.

After firing a gun near the cast and crew for a second time in three days without warning, Brumbaugh said that Cage yelled at her, “Make an announcement, you just blew my f—ing eardrums out!” before walking off set in a rage. “I told the AD, ‘She needs to be let go,’” Brumbaugh, adding, “After the second round I was pissed off. We were moving too fast. She’s a rookie.”

It was only after alerting his superiors that the production needed a more experienced armorer who did not make these kinds of basic safety mistakes that he learned it was Gutierrez’s very first movie. While her LinkedIn profile bills her as a videographer whose experience as an armorer dates to March 2021, she is the daughter of Thell Reed, a weapons expert and fast-draw exhibition shooter who is well known in Hollywood and has previously worked with actors like Brad Pitt.

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/inexperienced-rust-armorer-enraged-nicolas-222821834.html

[SheltieLover]

1. Do armorers have licenses?

If so, why wasn't hers revoked?

Who hired her? Did they check references?

[Eliot Rosewater]

2. She must have been cheap, sadly this company was doing things on the cheap and knew

they were, they are liable for civil damages big time.

[SheltieLover]

4. But are they required to have a license

To handle weapons on sets, if you know?

I know nothing about the film industry.

[Irish_Dem]

6. I know they can be union or non union.

Don't know about the license, but they should be required to have a license.

Hi Sheltie!

[SheltieLover]

10. Yes, I'd read union workers walked off the job for unsafe conditions days before this tragedy

[Irish_Dem]

12. Yep. Going to be many witnesses testifying about unsafe conditions.

[SheltieLover]

13. I wonder who is responsible for hiring & ensuring safety?

No knowledge of film industry.

[Irish_Dem]

14. Attorney on TV said producers have responsibility.

[SheltieLover]

15. Thx!

Shame on them! They should have rectified situation when union folks complained!

[Marcuse]

17. Isn't Baldwin the (or an) Executive Producer?

[Irish_Dem]

18. He is a producer of some kind. Attorney on TV said he is liable in terms of civil suit.

[Sgent]

24. First Assistant Director

is directly in charge of safety and of choosing the armorer. S/He reports to the Director, who reports to the producers. I'm guessing the armorer in question was a union member due to her background*, although she may have been getting scale wages.

*her father is a longtime Hollywood armorer and special effects person and union member.

[Eliot Rosewater]

16. I doubt it, but I will try and find out.

[Act_of_Reparation]

22. Like anything else in this country:

It depends on the state.

[Irish_Dem]

3. It appears they were on a very tight budget and didn't ask too many questions?

[SheltieLover]

5. Not a good idea, obviously.

Huge liability, I would think.

Certainly a horrible tragedy!

[Irish_Dem]

9. Right, big mistake. Yes there will be civil liability.

No doubt about it.

[SheltieLover]

11. I would think there would be!

[Sneederbunk]

7. Definitely a person of interest.

[maxsolomon]

8. Here comes the bus, Ms. Gutierrez-Reed, and you're going under it.

It sounds like the entire set was seat-of-the-pants.

[Demovictory9]

29. yes...

[WHITT]

19. There's Two Major Glaring Violations

of protocol, so far.

1) You cannot bring live rounds onto a film set. Who brought them, and why?

2) The armorer is supposed to have any firearms in a locked case, only to be removed to load with blanks, and then be handed directly to the actor, and after the director yells 'cut', the actor hands the firearm back to the armorer, who puts it back in the case and locks it.

What the hell was the assistant director doing handling the firearm, and what was he doing handing it to the actor?

[Stinky The Clown]

21. I'm on the same page

She may have been the armorer, and woefully reckless and inexperienced and whatever else they want to say, but as to the tragic incident, at this point it seems she was just a witness.

[Stinky The Clown]

20. As I understand it, she did not hand the gun to Baldwin. Her boss did.

From what I've read, she essentially had nothing to do with this. The Assistant Director, Dave Hall, who is her boss, called "Cold Gun" handed the gun to Baldwin. Hannah Gutierrez-Reed should have been the one, but she wasn't.

Not sure of what wrong she could be guilty.

[Azathoth]

23. The AD isn't her boss. The property master might technically be...

But the armorer is called the weapons master for a reason. She controls all weapons on set, and is the one ultimately responsible for their custody, care, and safety procedures. That is her entire job.

Saying she had nothing to do with this is like saying a pilot has nothing to do with a plane crashing because he let the airline's marketing director take the controls.

She is almost certainly guilty of manslaughter, and the AD is likely in the same boat.

[Sgent]

25. First AD

has the power to hire and fire her. He shouldn't interfere with her duties, but he is in charge of all safety issues on the set (not just firearms).

[Azathoth]

27. No, he likely can't fire her. And he's not her boss.

The producers and their teams are the ones who contract and fire important people. They're the officers, the AD is an NCO.

The 1st AD is a coordinator. He's responsible for *coordinating* the shooting schedule, safety meetings, getting the production crew organized, etc. A hospital administrator can coordinate and schedule surgeons, doctors, etc., but he can't walk into an operating room and take over a surgery. Likewise, an AD can run daily safety meetings, maintain call sheets and tell everyone when they have to be on set and what they need to be doing, but he can't hop in and fly the helicopter for a scene, or push the armorer out of the way and manage the guns on set.

[Sneederbunk]

26. Who loaded the gun?

[Straw Man]

30. That, as they say, ...

Who loaded the gun?

... is the question. I'll bet whoever it is is praying that they never find out.

[Raine]

28. Nepotism ... she must have got the job due to her father

pulling strings for her. This is what happens when you're hired because of who you're related to instead of what you know and your experience.