George Clooney: ‘Rust’ shooting ‘insane’

By Lisa Respers France, CNN

George Clooney has shared his thoughts on the tragic shooting on the set of the film “Rust.”

In an episode of the podcast “WTF With Marc Maron,” which released on Monday, the Academy Award winner talked about the incident in which the film’s star and executive producer Alec Baldwin accidentally discharged a prop gun with a suspected live round.

The film’s director of photography, Halyna Hutchins, 42, was killed and director Joel Souza was injured.

According to Maron, the episode was recorded a week after the shooting occurred.

“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,” Clooney said. “Maybe they weren’t even using that gun to do target practice, but they had live ammo with dummies in her pack and that is insane.”

The armorer is the person on set who in charge of the weapons and artillery.

The actor said he doesn’t know Baldwin well, doesn’t believe there was “any intent by anybody to do anything wrong” and called it a “a terrible accident.”

Clooney shared the protocols he said people in the industry are supposed to follow.

“Every single time I’m handed a gun on set, I look at it, I open it, I show it to the person I’m pointing it to, we show it to the crew,” he said. “Every single take you hand it back to the armorer when you’re done, and you do it again.

He said it’s been that way since his friend, actor Brandon Lee, was accidentally shot and killed on the set of “The Crow” in 1993.

“After Brandon died, it really became a very clear thing, Clooney said. “Open the gun, look down the barrel, look in the cylinder, make sure.”

Clooney said “We need to be better at making the heads of department experienced and know what they’re doing.”

“Because this is just infuriating,” he said. “Every time I get handed a six gun, you point it at the ground and you fire. You squeeze it six times. Always.”

Authorities in Sante Fe, New Mexico where the shooting happened are continuing to investigate.

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