Following the tragic death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of Alec Baldwin’s film “Rust,” Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson says his production company will not use any real firearms. Instead, Seven Bucks Productions, co-founded by Johnson and his first wife, Dany Garcia, will switch to rubber prop guns.
The actor announced this decision during an interview with Variety at the premiere of Johnson’s new film, “Red Notice,” which will launch on Netflix on Nov. 12. “Red Notice,” which also stars Ryan Reynolds and Gal Gadot, is an action flick produced by Seven Bucks that features guns. And while the cast and crew carefully followed safety protocols on the production set, Johnson has pledged to stop using all real firearms during any future projects Seven Bucks produces.
“We’re going to switch over to rubber guns, and we’re going to take care of it in post [production],” he told Variety.
Johnson shared that the accident left him heartbroken.
“We lost a life,” he told Variety. “My heart goes out to her family and everybody on set. I’ve known Alec, too, for a very long time.”
Johnson said he would also enforce the rule with any studio he works with. He said that costs wouldn’t be a factor, and they could handle visual effects in post-production.
“I love the movie business,” he told Variety. “There are safety protocols and measures that we have always taken in the movie business and we take very seriously, and these sets are safe sets, and we’re proud of that. But accidents do happen. And when something like this happens, of this magnitude, this heartbreaking, I think the most prudent thing and the smartest thing to do is just pause for a second and really re-examine how you’re going to move forward and how we’re going to work together.”
Some experts say that it can be challenging to replicate the visual effects of real guns, and that some actors have difficulty faking it due to differences in weight and the lack of recoil. However, even blanks can be dangerous, and even previous to the incident on the set of “Rust,” accidents on set were not unheard of.
Several actors, filmmakers and television producers have spoken out have spoken out in favor of banning real firearms on film sets. Director Bandar Albuliwi started a Change.org petition to ban real guns on sets. So far, the petition has received more than 100,000 signatures.
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