George Clooney Says 'Rust' Shooting Is 'Infuriating,' Actor Reveals He 'Never' Heard The Term 'Cold Gun' Before
George Clooney has shared his thoughts on the accidental Rust shooting that took place last month.
As previously reported by OK!, Alec Baldwin discharged a firearm on set on October 21. Rust director of photography Halyna Hutchins lost her life and the film's director Joel Souza was injured during the incident.
The Hollywood legend appeared on the "WTF with Marc Maron" podcast on Monday, November 15.
"Why, for the life of me, this low-budget film with producers who haven’t produced anything wouldn’t have hired for the armorer someone with experience…they weren’t even using that gun to do target practice and that is insane," Clooney said.
"Every single time I'm handed a gun on the set — every time — they hand me a gun, I look at it, I open it, I show it to the person I'm pointing it too, I show it to the crew," the ER alum shared. "Every single take." "You hand it back to the armorer when you're done," he explained.
One of the reasons Clooney is so careful with firearms is because of the death of Brandon Lee in 1993. Lee lost his life after he was shot with defective blank ammunition while filming The Crow.
"After Brandon died, it really became a very clear thing of: Open the gun. Look down the barrel. Look in the cylinder. Make sure," he explained. "It's harder with dummy bullets, I have to say, because if you stuck six dummy bullets in your hand, you would think they're real bullets."
- 'Rust' Actor Ian A. Hudson Says Being Shot At On Set Felt 'Too Surreal,' Reveals He Could Feel Blanks Hitting Him
- Angelina Jolie Talks About Being 'Careful' With Prop Guns Following Alec Baldwin Accidental Shooting On 'Rust' Set: 'You Have To Take It Very Seriously'
- Alec Baldwin Breaks Silence After Fatally Shooting Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins With Prop Firearm On 'Rust' Set: 'There Are No Words'
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Clooney said that when he's handed a six-shooter gun like the revolver Baldwin fired, he points the gun at the ground and fires six times to make sure that it's safe.
"Maybe Alec did that — hopefully he did do that. But the problem is dummies are tricky because they look like real [rounds]. They got a little tiny hole in the back [from which] somebody's [removed] the gunpowder," the Up in the Air star said.
"It's a series of tragedies, but also a lot of mistakes. A lot of stupid mistakes," Clooney lamented.
Clooney also revealed that he never heard the term "cold gun" prior to the Rust incident. "I've never heard that term. Literally. They're just talking about stuff I've never heard of. It's just infuriating," he shared.
The Oscar winner said that he has "been on sets for 40 years and the person that hands you the gun, the person who is responsible for the gun, is either the prop person or the armorer. Period."
The weapon was reportedly given to Baldwin by assistant director Dave Halls who said it was a "cold gun." As previously reported by OK!, Halls later admitted that he was not shown all of the rounds in the barrel of the gun and that he should have asked to see them first.
Last week, the film's armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed's attorney Jason Bowles said that her team is "convinced that this was sabotage and Hannah is being framed."
