The tragic accident that ended the life of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during the filming of ‘Rust’, caused by a revolver that fired live ammunition when it was not supposed to, reopened the debate on the use of firearms and its relationship with safety in the work environment. A topic that was already touched on in the late eighties and early nineties after the deaths of Jon-Erik Hexum and Brandon Lee on the sets of the cathodic ‘Cover Up’ and ‘El cuervo’ respectively.
digital metal
The last voice to join the conversation has been Chad Stahelski; stuntman, director of the ‘John Wick’ saga and a great connoisseur of the use of weapons in film productions. During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the filmmaker has provided his point of view on the reasons behind the hegemony of tangible firearms over, for example, their computer-generated equivalents. The reason, how could it be less, is none other than money.
“I feel like there’s no reason to have a real gun on set. We can create cities and spaceships and Godzilla and all that stuff. We have the technology to do the same thing with guns. But, for the last hundred years, Hollywood has been using real firearms. And for prop companies, gunsmiths, and dealers, switching would make their entire stock of real guns useless. It all comes down to the fact that it would cost some people a fair amount of money. Nobody wants to say it, but it’s the real reason. You don’t need firearms. The alternative is just going to cost you more money.”
Stahelski has recognized that, throughout his professional career, he has witnessed accidents on set, and each and every time they have been caused by human error: “It’s Never Mechanic”, it states. To minimize damage, the industry chose to use what are known as “blanks” —bullets without a projectile— but, according to the specialist, its force “it would be enough to crack your skull”so consider other options as much more suitable.
“Accidents like that happen and people die because of it. But in the last ten years there have been electronic weapons, plugged weapons where it’s impossible for anything to come out of the barrel, and completely computer generated ones. That’s how we do it.” That technology is out there for everyone.”
Will we get to see feature films in which 100% of the weaponry on the screen is completely digital? The technology is there, but, personally, I have to admit that I highly doubt that the transition will ever take place. As Stahelski has explained, economic interests are aheadand money has a greater weight than the full security of film and television workers.