Crew voiced complaints before fatal gunshot

Rust's crew members had expressed their discontent with matters that ranged from safety procedures to their housing accommodations, according to one of those who left. He requested anonymity for fear that speaking up would hurt his prospects for future jobs.

There were at least two accidental gun discharges on the set of an Alec Baldwin movie being filmed in New Mexico days before he fatally shot the cinematographer, according to three former members of the film's crew.

The discharges occurred on October 16, the former crew members said, prompting a complaint to a supervisor about the safety practices on the set, which was outside Santa Fe. The crew members, who asked not to be named out of fear that their future employment in the industry could be affected, were among several workers who quit, just hours before the fatal shooting, over complaints about unpaid work and working conditions on the production.

The disclosures, which were first reported by the Los Angeles Times, are focusing scrutiny on concerns over loosely followed protocols and labor strife between producers and crew members during the production of the movie, Rust, a low-budget film about a 19th century accidental killing and its aftermath.

Larry Zanoff, who worked on the set of Django Unchained as an armorer — a position that involves instructing cast members on the safe handling of firearms — and was not involved in Rust, said that if a firearm went off on a film set, there would immediately be an inquiry into whether the firearm was defective or was mishandled. If the determination was that it was mishandled, he said, the production would undergo a reinforcement of safety protocols and possibly disallow the handler from using firearms. (IANS)

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