In a brief remarks to CNN Tuesday night, A-Camera’s first assistant, Len Luper, said the crew was “rush and unsafe” on the set of the western.
Email obtained by CNN shows that Luper’s resignation came with several complaints about an unsafe work environment.
“Things are often played out very fast and loose during the filming of the shootout on this job,” Luper wrote.
He wrote about two accidental weapons discharges on set and a special effects glitch that set off explosives around the crew.
“I personally suffer from very bad tinnitus and the SFX explosive kept my ears ringing until I got home. To be clear there are no security meetings these days,” Luper said, using an acronym for special effects Wrote.
Luper complained of a lack of adequate housing for crews near sets, delayed payrolls, and “the most lax COVID policies I’ve personally seen in any business or private setting related to filmmaking.”
“In my 10 years as a camera assistant I have never worked on a show that cared so little for the safety of its crew,” he wrote.
In a statement to CNN, the producers of “Rust” called Luper’s allegations about the film’s budget and security “absolutely false”, adding it “is not surprising that his job was to be a camera operator, and his Had absolutely nothing. [do] With safety protocols or budget, or knowledge.”
The producers said, “Safety is always the first priority in our films, and it is really horrifying to see some people using this tragedy for personal gain.”
In previous statements, “Rust” producers said they had not been made aware of any official complaints related to weapon or prop safety and are conducting an internal review.
Workplace safety questions are growing as investigators try to determine how a live round made its way into a gun fired by actor and producer Alec Baldwin, killing the film’s cinematographer and Its director was injured.
These comments appear to have been made on the social media account of “Rust” costume designer Teresa Magpel Davis.
In the post she claims that the film’s story “bulls..t” surrounded by unsafe and chaotic conditions and that “concerns were heard and addressed” by the producers on the film.
“They cared about us as long as we all worked together, and they continue to care,” she wrote, dismissing allegations that production was intentionally cutting corners and safety standards. was compromising.
“We had several security meetings. Sometimes several per day,” she wrote.
Davies wrote that the assistant director on the film, David Hall, never seemed concerned about safety and defended Hannah Gutierrez Reed’s writing, “Armor had trained a well-known armorer and was in the same position at the same time.” film from a few months ago”.
Gutierrez Reid’s lawyers have said that safety on set was their first priority.
“Ultimately this set would never have been compromised if live ammo had not been offered. Hannah has no idea where the live rounds came from,” her attorneys Jason Bowles and Robert Gorens said in a statement last week.
CNN was unable to reach Davis and Baldwin for further comment on the post.
Baldwin has been making phone contact with detectives, voluntarily answering their questions, law enforcement and the actor have said.
In an interview with CNN last week, District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altweij said that determining how the gun fired by Baldwin was loaded with suspicious live rounds is a key factor in any decision to bring potential criminal charges in the case. will play the role of
“I think it will probably end like a linchpin for whether a decision is made about the allegations.”
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