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'Rust' death is a reminder about dangers on sets

In the past, on-set fatal accidents have led to reforms in the TV and movie industry.

The Associated Press

October 26, 2021 at 4:00PM

Alec Baldwin speaks on the phone in the parking lot outside the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office in Santa Fe, N.M., after he was questioned about a shooting on the set of the film “Rust.” (Jim Weber, Santa Fe New Mexican via AP/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

LOS ANGELES — The shooting death of a cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the movie "Rust" is a reminder of the unexpected accidents that can exist on film and television sets.

On-set fatalities have led to safety reforms in the past. Here are some of the productions that experienced industry-altering accidents:

'Twilight Zone: The Movie'

A 1982 helicopter crash that killed actor Vic Morrow and two child actors on the set of "Twilight Zone" in Vietnam led to new safety standards for the use of choppers during filming. The helicopter came down after debris from explosions staged during the scene rose 100 feet in the air and damaged the aircraft's rotor. Director John Landis and four others were acquitted of involuntary manslaughter charges. The families of the child actors killed settled civil lawsuits years later, and federal agencies enacted new rules for filming with helicopters.

'The Crow'

Actor Brandon Lee died in March 1993 after he was shot in the abdomen while filming a scene for "The Crow." A makeshift bullet was mistakenly left in a gun from a previous scene and struck Lee during a scene that called for using blank rounds. The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined the production $84,000 for violations found after Lee's death, but the fine was later reduced to $55,000. After the fatal "Rust" accident, Lee's sister Shannon tweeted: "No one should ever be killed by a gun on a film set. Period."

'Cops'

An audio technician recording a police shootout for the long-running TV reality series "Cops" was killed in Omaha, Neb., in August 2014. The death of Boston native Bryce Dion prompted OSHA to recommend additional training and safety instruction for the crew members, including on how to film shootings from farther away. OSHA also recommended removing bonus incentives that encourage workers to take risks to capture more action-packed stories. The show was canceled last year but has been recently revived for the Fox Nation streaming service.

'Midnight Rider'

Camera operator Sarah Jones was run over by a train in February 2014 during the filming of a Gregg Allman biopic in rural Georgia. The death of Jones, 27, and the injuries of other crew members hit by pieces of a metal bed frame that was on the train tracks as part of the production, put a heightened industry focus on film set safety. The filming crew did not have permission to be on the tracks but were not expecting a train while filming the bed scene. Prosecutors filed criminal charges against the film's director, who pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and criminal trespassing charges. He was sentenced to two years in jail but released after a year and fined $74,900 by OSHA.

'Untitled Military Project'

An early morning helicopter crash north of Los Angeles killed three people filming a planned reality TV series for the Discovery Channel. The February 2013 filming took place on a moonless night, and the pilot wasn't wearing night vision goggles at the time of the crash. Federal investigators later determined that a light used to illuminate an actor's face in the cockpit hampered the pilot's ability to fly. But the National Transportation Safety Board faulted the pilot, who was among those killed, for flying in unsafe conditions. The agency later rescinded its determination that a Federal Aviation Administration inspector failed to recognize the risks involved when he approved plans for the shoot.