The sister of late actor Brandon Lee has said “no-one should ever be killed by a gun on a film set”, after Alec Baldwin fired a prop gun on the set of a western, killing a cinematographer.
Lee, 28, the son of martial arts superstar Bruce Lee, was killed in 1993 after he was shot on the set of the film The Crow.
The gun was supposed to have fired a blank, but a post mortem examination found a .44-calibre bullet lodged near his spine.
Our hearts go out to the family of Halyna Hutchins and to Joel Souza and all involved in the incident on “Rust”. No one should ever be killed by a gun on a film set. Period. 💔
— Brandon Bruce Lee (@brandonblee) October 22, 2021
An incident on the New Mexico set of Baldwin’s film Rust killed director of photography Halyna Hutchins, while director Joel Souza was also injured and taken to hospital.
A statement on Lee’s official Twitter account, which is run by Lee’s sister Shannon, said: “Our hearts go out to the family of Halyna Hutchins and to Joel Souza and all involved in the incident on ‘Rust.’
“No one should ever be killed by a gun on a film set. Period.”
Hutchins, 42, was airlifted to University of New Mexico Hospital, where she was pronounced dead by medical personnel, authorities said.
Brandon Lee, The Crow. Released 27 years ago. pic.twitter.com/lAtjGIuwvH
— Brandon Bruce Lee (@brandonblee) May 11, 2021
Souza, 48, was taken by ambulance to Christus St Vincent Regional Medical Centre, where he is undergoing treatment.
Photographs published by The Santa Fe New Mexican newspaper show an emotional Baldwin doubled over and apparently in tears outside the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office.
The incidents that killed Lee and Hutchins are part of a long history of tragedies on film sets.
In 1984, actor Jon-Erik Hexum died after shooting himself in the head with a prop gun blank while pretending to play Russian roulette with a .44 Magnum on the set of the television series Cover Up.
I’m so sad about losing Halyna. And so infuriated that this could happen on a set. She was a brilliant talent who was absolutely committed to art and to film. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/vcdFqHsGA0
— Adam Egypt Mortimer (@adamegypt) October 22, 2021
During the filming of Twilight Zone: The Movie in 1982, a helicopter crash killed actor Vic Morrow and two children, Myca Dinh Le and Renee Shin-Yi Chen, while filming a scene involving explosions, which damaged the helicopter’s rotors.
In 2002 Vin Diesel’s stunt double on the action film xXx, Harry O’Connor, died while he was performing a paragliding stunt.
A stunt expert was also killed on the set of Batman film The Dark Knight.
Conway Wickliffe was leaning out the window of a car operating a camera when the car crashed into a tree.