Guy Ritchie ‘Never Liked’ Using Firearms on Set: ‘The Whole Game Has Changed’ Post-‘Rust’
Guy Ritchie is admitting that Hollywood has forever changed since the fatal “Rust” shooting in October 2021.
The “Covenant” director addressed working with firearms on set, noting that since cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed, he has not used a “real weapon” during a film shoot. “Rust” producer and lead star Alec Baldwin and armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed are facing involuntary manslaughter charges over Hutchins’ death. Multiple additional lawsuits are pending.
“That whole thing has changed now, the whole game has changed,” Ritchie told Newsweek (via The Independent). “We haven’t used a real weapon since [the ‘Rust’ shooting]. So there were no real weapons. It’s the first shoot that we had, which I have to tell you, it’s a tremendous relief for all of us.”
Ritchie noted that he “never liked real firearms” and was baffled at the use of them in films in the first place.
“I had no idea why we carried on in the industry with real firearms,” he said. “It was just one of those things that everyone did, and it’s a tremendous relief, as I’m sure it is for [‘The Convenant’ lead actor] Jake [Gyllenhaal], as much as it is for me, that you don’t have that sword hanging over us any longer.”
Gyllenhaal replied during the joint interview, “I generally feel like that’s more of a question for the producers, just because those are the choices that that they make, but we used Airsoft weaponry on this. It allowed for a creative freedom, particularly as we were moving in the way guys shoot, so everything was safe.”
“The Convenant” stars Gyllenhaal as an army sergeant who is rescued by his platoon’s interpreter (Dar Salim) during the Afghanistan war. Back stateside, the sergeant returns to the Middle East to save his former interpreter from the Taliban.
“Guy tells a story, particularly through action, he really tells an emotional story,” Gyllenhaal said in an Insider interview. “It just reminded me what we are as Americans and world citizens. Doing good is not without grudge or complications and a lot of complexity. This is a movie that says doing good is through action.”
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