Guy Ritchie has said he will no longer allow real firearms to be used on the sets of his films following the fatal accident on the set of Rust in 2021.
Around two years ago, an incident occurred on the set of the Western film Rust, in which a prop gun being held by actor Alec Baldwin went off, killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injuring director Joel Souza.
Since then, Guy says, “the whole game has changed” when it comes to guns on film sets.
Guy – who previously directed gangster films including Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch and Revolver – most recently helmed the war thriller The Covenant, starring Jake Gyllenhaal.
He told Newsweek: “We haven’t used a real weapon since then. So there were no real weapons.”
The British filmmaker also shared that he had “no idea why we carried on in the industry with real firearms”, describing the “tremendous relief” at no longer having “that sword hanging over us”.
He went on to insist that the pellet guns now being used in place of real firearms “look as good as real weapons” and “do all the functions as a real weapon”.
“It all seems as authentic as it can be,” he added.
Following the death of Halyna Hutchins, charges of involuntary manslaughter were made against Alec Baldwin, who was also a producer on Rust as well as starring in the film.
However, earlier this week, it was revealed that these charges had been formally dropped.
Alec had previously pleaded not guilty to both charges of involuntary manslaughter.