Quentin Tarantino: Alec Baldwin Partly Responsible for 'Rust' Shooting

Filmmaker Quentin Tarantino weighed in on the "Rust" movie set shooting, saying actor Alec Baldwin bears some responsibility.

The incident happened in 2021, when a prop gun Baldwin was handling discharged live ammunition, resulting in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injury of director Joel Souza.

"It's a situation I think I am being fair enough to say that the armorer, the guy who hands him the gun, is 90% responsible for everything that happens when it comes to that gun. But the actor is 10% responsible," Tarantino told Bill Maher on the "Club Random" podcast, according to Deadline. "The actor is 10% responsible. It's a gun! You are a partner in the responsibility to some degree."

Tarantino pointed out that actors handling guns on set should go through a walkthrough to get familiar with them before filming.

"If he went through the steps that he was supposed to go through," Tarantino said, "like the barrel is clear, they show you the barrel is clear and that there is nothing … wedged in there. They actually show you the barrel. And then they show you some version of, Here are the blanks and here is the gun. Now it's ready to go."

Last year, footage emerged showing Baldwin handling a prop gun on the set of "Rust." According to NBC News, one video obtained by the outlet shows him in character as he fires a prop gun multiple times until running out of dummy rounds. Calling for a reload to keep the scene going, he mentions, "We should have had two guns and both of them reloading."

During his interview with Tarantino, Maher wondered why fake guns are not used on set and then later added in post-production, but Tarantino dismissed the notion.

"For as many guns we've shot off in movies, we only have two examples of people being shot on the set by a gun mishap," he said. "That's a pretty [expletive] good record," referring to the "Rust" shooting and incident in which actor Brandon Lee lost his life on the set of "The Crow."

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