re: 'Rust' armorer breaks silence, blames producers for unsafe conditions

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There are about 10 different producers for "Rust".

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The authority/hierarchy on this film is a labyrinth, but it does NOT appear that Baldwin was the ultimate "boss" on the production. That appears to have been Donnell Smith and/or Allen Cheney.

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The production of “Rust” was a thicket of numerous production companies and multiple financiers, which isn’t unusual for an independent production of its scale, but it leads to various people sharing the titles of executive producer or producer without much clarity to outside observers regarding just who is responsible for what.

From a copy of the day’s call sheet obtained by The Times, the (six) producers on the project besides Baldwin were Matt DelPiano — who is Baldwin’s manager and a former CAA agent — Ryan Smith, Anjul Nigam, Nathan Klingher and Ryan Winterstern. The film also had four executive producers.

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On a film, the "executive producers" are normally the bosses, and the term "producer" normally refers to some sort of subordinate or perhaps honorary role (though even this rule-of-thumb does not appear to be universal).

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Sometimes the (producer) credit is simply a vanity title to boost an actor’s sense of involvement in a project. Sometimes it is a way to defer upfront fees to a performer in favor of back-end payments. And sometimes an actor is so deeply involved with a project that the credit is a way to make official their added influence along the way. LA Times

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But (at least two of the four) executive producers are claiming that they had no day-to-day responsibilities at all.

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Allen Cheney made it known in a statement provided to the press Wednesday that he, along with Emily Salveson and her Streamline Global finance company, “received Executive Producer credit on the film Rust having no involvement with the physical and day to day production,” which is “consistent with financing partners across productions of all sizes.”
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All of this begs the question: Who owns and operates Rust Movie Productions LLC? Sources inform us it’s Cheney and Donnell Smith, both being Salveson’s Streamline Global business partners, who also operate the production company Thomasville Pictures, one of the production companies on Rust as indicated in previous casting announcements for the film on Deadline. LINK

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Apparently, Baldwin did not even have an equity stake in the film.

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Sources close to production have informed us that DelPiano, Souza and Baldwin’s manager, doesn’t have an equity stake in Rust, ditto for his client Baldwin. Baldwin produced through his El Dorado Pictures banner while DelPiano has a production credit under his company Cavalry Media. Id.

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Precis? It is not remotely clear at this point exactly WHO was "in charge" on that set OR whether Baldwin had any sort of managerial role whatsoever.

Locke

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Precis? It is not remotely clear at this point exactly WHO was "in charge" on that set OR whether Baldwin had any sort of managerial role whatsoever.

Locke

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Maybe not, but I know damn well whose job it was to make sure all the firearms were secured under lock and key until they are made safe/loaded with proper blank ammo and handed over to an actor for use in a scene.

The armorer.

This tart is fricked and will likely be charged and convicted of manslaughter at a minimum.

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Maybe not, but I know damn well whose job it was to make sure all the firearms were secured under lock and key until they are made safe/loaded with proper blank ammo and handed over to an actor for use in a scene.

The armorer.

This tart is fricked and will likely be charged and convicted of manslaughter at a minimum.

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You don't know if she was even there at the time. Or do you? I don't.

I do know that Alec fired a gun with two people in its sights and that that act was not part of the film. So if justice is upheld Baldwin will be convicted. I will leave the sentence to others.

I don't know if you know this or not but New Mexico is just Mexico with New in front of it and Epstein didn't kill himself.

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Then guns don't get handled if she is not on set. They are supposed to be inaccessible to anyone but the armorer.

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My understanding is two people had access to the safe.

Sometime she gave it to the actor sometime to another employee that then gave it to the actor.

And what if it was loaded after it left her hand?

idk

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I think you might be technically right but he's a total idiot for not double checking it himself, I don't care if the pope told him it was empty.

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It is a movie set, they have procedures for firearm safety because believe it or not there are millions of people some of who are actors that don’t know they should clear a firearm themselves, or even know how to do it. People have been killed on sets because explosives were incorrectly placed, should a actor show up on a knowing how to check for correct explosive charge placement?

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She was one of the very few people who handled the gun prior to Baldwin discharging it on set last Thursday.

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The fact that she wasn't the only person is the issue at hand.

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In their statement, her attorneys seemingly shifted the blame away from the set’s armorer to a larger conversation about the resources she was given by producers to ensure the set was safe and up to protocol standards.

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I mean, not having live rounds on set seems like a pretty controllable varable.

Bottom line, Alec pulled the trigger. Idgaf. If you are the one with the finger on the trigger, check it yourself.

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Bottom line, Alec pulled the trigger. Idgaf. If you are the one with the finger on the trigger, check it yourself.

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That's not how it works in filmmaking. It's the armorers job and the talent is not supposed to handle the firearm except for as prescribed in the scene.

AB is a jerk for other reasons but you don't want untrained actors waving around guns and trying to figure out how to clear them. It's not their job.

This is pretty simple and many of ya'll are making it out to be more complicated than it is.

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Yes... and yet, she is stating (and other reports are stating) that she wasn't present.

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Then she is guilty of some degree of manslaughter due to her gross negligence in not performing her job.

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I think it was an impulsive, impatient director.

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Well then they get charges too for gross negligence.

When someone loses their life like this there will be consequences. The on set talent (actors) aren't supposed to make guns safe or clear.