Hollywood

The rookie armorer on “Rust” reportedly had a mysterious “mentor” on set — who supplied the gun Alec Baldwin used when he accidentally shot dead his cinematographer.

Seth Kenney, who owns an Arizona weapons and props rental company, was hired in late September to be an “armorer mentor” for Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, according to an internal crew list obtained by the Los Angeles Times.

Kenney, 51, had even suggested Gutierrez-Reed, 24, for the key armorer gig, despite her having only been in charge of weapons in one other movie, a source told the paper.

Actor and left-wing activist Alec Baldwin “protected” his Twitter account on Tuesday — effectively controlling which users can view the star’s tweets and which tweets can be retweeted — after much scrutiny over previous posts of his, including a recent one attacking his film crew over safety complaints.

It’s been two weeks since Halyna Hutchins was killed on the set of Rust, and there are still questions about how such a tragedy occurred. Alec Baldwin, star and producer of the Western indie film, fired a gun during rehearsal that contained a live round. The actor initially issued a statement saying that he had “no words to convey my shock and sadness” about the accident. Baldwin’s remarks about the tragedy have been sparse, but telling, since Oct. 21, the day of the events.

According to crisis and PR expert Eric Schiffer, Baldwin “broke the essential rules of managing a crisis: don’t do any further damage.”

The handling of firearms on the Santa Fe, New Mexico set of Rust was said to be ‘green,’ ‘immature’ and ‘lackadaisical.’

Some of those working on the set prior to the shooting that saw cinematographer Halyna Hutchins killed and director, Joel Souza, wounded, are said to have been horrified by what they saw.

The allegedly poor safety measures involving weapons on set was captured in pictures taken by others working on the film.

Trump outrageously suggests ‘nutjob’ Alec Baldwin INTENTIONALLY loaded gun that killed Rust crewmember and says he’s a ‘troubled guy’ who shouldn’t get into fistfights with reporters

Former President Donald Trump outrageously suggested ‘nutjob’ Alec Baldwin intentionally shot cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the Rust set, during a radio interview Thursday.

‘In my opinion, he had something to do with it,’ Trump said of Baldwin – who played Trump on Saturday Night Live – to conservative radio show host Chris Stigall. ‘Who would take a gun and point it at a cinematographer and pull the trigger?’ Trump asked. ‘Maybe he loaded it,’ the former president also floated.

The ex-president said he believed Baldwin could be responsible because he’s a ‘troubled guy,’ ‘there’s something wrong with him’ and he ‘gets into fistfights with reporters.’

The producers of the film Rust had budgeted $7,913 to pay rookie armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, compared to $650,000 for themselves and a $350,000 contingency fee in case anything went wrong, according to a preliminary budget.

The independent movie had a modest overall budget of just $7,279,305, according to a draft of the production budget dated September 8, which was revealed by the Hollywood Reporter.

Star and producer Alec Baldwin, who fired the accidental shot that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, derailing the production, was slated to earn $150,000 as the lead actor, and his production company, El Dorado, was taking a $100,000 fee. 

The lawyers for the armorer on the film “Rust” — who has been under scrutiny since Alec Baldwin fatally shot the movie’s cinematographer with a gun that was not supposed to contain live ammunition — said in interviews on Wednesday that the gun had been left unattended for hours, but later corrected themselves to say it had only been several minutes.

The gun left on a prop cart had been loaded with six dummy rounds by the armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who took the prop ammunition from a box labeled “dummies,” said one of her lawyers, Jason Bowles. Dummy rounds contain no gunpowder and are used to resemble bullets on camera.

Alec Baldwin’s fatal shooting of his cinematographer may have been the deadly result of a “disgruntled” crew member “sabotaging” the set, an attorney for the movie’s rookie armorer alleged Wednesday.

Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, 24, loaded the gun Baldwin used on the set of “Rust” from a box of ammo that should have been only dummy rounds, her attorney, Jason Bowles, told the “Today” show.

“We know there was a live round in a box of dummy rounds that shouldn’t have been there — at least one live round,” said Bowles, a former federal prosecutor.

Alec Baldwin defended working conditions on the set of the Western flick “Rust” — sharing a crewmember’s social media posts ripping her co-workers for describing it as “chaotic and unsafe.”

The actor and producer — who fatally shot cinematographer Halnya Hutchins and wounded director Joel Souza — shared several screenshots of remarks by Terese Magpale Davis, who worked in the wardrobe department for the movie.

“Read this,” Baldwin, 63, wrote to introduce the multiple Instagram posts, all of which were screengrabs of Davis’ own social media posts.

Alec Baldwin and his wife Hilaria were slammed after posing with their six children clad in Halloween costumes and posting to Instagram what many called “tasteless” photos. The posts came one week after Alec killed Rust cinematographer and mother Halyna Hutchins, who was memorialized over the weekend.

Seconds after being shot by Alec Baldwin, cinematographer Halnya Hutchins told a boom operator on the “Rust” movie set, “That was no good. That was no good at all.” Hours later, she was pronounced dead.

The haunting final words of the 42-year-old mom, who had been working as the director of photography on Baldwin’s upcoming Western flick, were reported by the Los Angeles Times based on interviews with 14 crew members, emails and text messages.

Actor Alec Baldwin told reporters Saturday he is “extremely interested” in limiting the use of firearms on movie sets in the wake of his fatal shooting while producing his latest film Rust.

New Mexico’s Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office opened an investigation when a 42-year-old cinematographer was killed on October 21, 2021, after Baldwin discharged a prop gun.

Alec Baldwin has spoken out in public for the first time since he accidentally shot dead cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on a film set earlier this month, saying “she was my friend”.

Speaking to reporters, the actor said he would be in favour of limiting the future use of firearms on film productions to protect peoples’ safety.

He said the police had ordered him not to discuss the ongoing investigation.

Prosecutors say they have not ruled out filing criminal charges over the case.

And…

Hilaria Baldwin, Alec’s fake Spanish wife, fears Alec will develop fake PTSD after tragic shooting of Halyna Hutchins