The head of lighting on the film “Rust” filed a lawsuit Wednesday. The lawsuit is about the incident that took place on the set of the Western in New Mexico, alleging carelessness that caused him “serious emotional pain” that will plague him for the rest of his life.
In the complaint, Serge Svetnoy stated that the gunshot that killed his close friend Hutchins nearly missed him and that he held her head as she died. “They should never, ever, have had live rounds on this set,” Svetnoy’s attorney Gary A. Dordick mentioned at a news conference. The case, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, lists almost two dozen defendants from the film, including Baldwin. Baldwin was both a performer and a producer. David Halls, the assistant director who handed Baldwin the gun; and Hannah Gutierrez Reed, who was in charge of weapons on the set.
What happened next will haunt Plaintiff forever
It was the ninth film Svetnoy and Hutchins had collaborated on, and he had taken the low-paying position because she had urged him to. “She was my friend,” Svetnoy said at the news conference. He says he gave warning to the people on set when saw the guns unattended. On the day of the shooting, he was setting up lighting within 6 or 7 feet (2 meters) of Baldwin, mentions the lawsuit.
“What happened next will haunt Plaintiff forever,” the suit says. “He felt a strange and terrifying whoosh of what felt like pressurized air from his right. He felt what he believed was gunpowder and other residual materials directly strike the right side of his face.” The action demands both compensatory and punitive damages, the amount of which will be determined later. The lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles County because the plaintiff and the majority of the defendants live there.
However Reed’s lawyer Jason Bowles says in a statement, “we are convinced this was sabotage and Hannah is being framed. We believe that the scene was tampered with as well before the police arrived.” “We are asking for a complete investigation of all of the facts, including the live rounds themselves, how they ended up in the ‘dummies’ box, and who put them in there,” the statement informs.
According to authorities, Halls, the assistant director, handed the handgun to Baldwin. He remarked, “cold gun,” suggesting that the weapon was safe to use. However, as per the Los Angeles lawsuit, the scene did not call for Baldwin to fire the gun at all. It says simply to point it. The circumstances of the movie set shooting perplexed Hollywood specialists. It has already prompted other production crews to increase their safety precautions.