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Quentin Tarantino has said that actors on film sets are “10 percent responsible” for handling guns, but went on to call the recent trial of Alec Baldwin “terrible”.
Baldwin, 66, had his involuntary manslaughter case in the fatal shooting of Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins thrown out in July.
During an appearance on Bill Maher’s Club Random podcast on Sunday, Tarantino, 61, was asked by the host whether he agreed that the case against Baldwin was “bulls***”.
The Pulp Fiction director responded: “It’s a situation, I think – I’m being fair enough to say that the armorer, the guy who handles the gun, an armorer is 90 percent responsible for everything that happens when it comes to that gun. But, the actor is 10 percent responsible. The actor is 10 percent responsible. It’s a gun. You are a partner in the responsibility to some degree.”
When Maher asked Tarantino what Baldwin could have done to test the gun, the director explained how an armorer might prepare an actor to fire a gun: “They show it to you. If there are steps to go through, you go through them. It’s done with due diligence, and you know it’s f***ing for real, alright? Here’s how an actor can handle it – I’m not talking about that situation...”
When Maher questioned what Baldwin could have done to test the gun, Tarantino said: “If he went through the steps that he’s supposed to go through, then he shouldn’t...” before Maher cut him off.
The Independent has contacted Baldwin’s representatives for comment.
Maher went on to ask why directors don’t just add gunfire in post-production. “That’s bloodless,” replied Tarantino. “I guess I could add digital erections to porno movies, but who wants to f***ing watch that? It’s exciting to shoot the blanks and see the real orange fire, and not add orange fire.”
When Maher asked whether films could be shot in such a way that guns are never pointed directly at someone, Tarantino argued that that’s what Hollywood did in the 1980s before Hong Kong action films revolutionized the genre by showing guns closer to actor’s bodies “It was so f***ing exciting,” said Tarantino. “It was like movies were liberated.”
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The director, who is known for his use of ultraviolence in films, defended the use of real guns on set by pointing out that Hutchins’ death was only the second known accidental death from gunfire on set after Brandon Lee in 1994’s The Crow.
“For as many guns as we’ve shot off in movies, we only have two examples of people being shot on the set by a gun mishap,” said Tarantino. “That’s a pretty f***ing good record.”
Maher agreed, but said he’d be nervous if he was an actor facing a gun. “That’s the kind of f***-up that happens that undermines an entire industry,” said Tarantino. “You don’t need nervous people. You want people to go for it. That’s the last thing you want, is nervous people. You want: ‘No, we’re all in this together, and we’re going to do this cool thing, and we’re going to capture this exciting thing on film, and it’s a thing that we’re capturing.’”
After Maher said he sympathized with Baldwin after seeing footage of him crying, Tarantino said: “Of course! He ended up shooting somebody. That’s not something most human beings have to go through.” When the host described the subsequent trial as a “charade,” Tarantino agreed: “It’s terrible!”
