In the aftermath of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins’ death on the “Rust” film set, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson promises to forego the use of real firearms on any movie produced by his company, Seven Bucks Productions.
“I can’t speak for anyone else, but I can tell you, without an absence of clarity here, that any movie that we have moving forward with Seven Bucks Productions — any movie, any television show, or anything we do or produce — we won’t use real guns at all,” Johnson told Variety at the Nov. 3 premiere of his new Netflix action film, “Red Notice.”
“We’re going to switch over to rubber guns, and we’re going to take care of it in post. We’re not going to worry about the dollars. We won’t worry about what it costs.”
Johnson explained that the decision was a response to the accidental on-set shooting of Hutchins on Oct. 21.
“First of all, I was heartbroken,” he said. “We lost a life. My heart goes out to her family and everybody on set. I’ve known Alec, too, for a very long time.”
Within two hours of hearing about the shooting, Johnson said he held a meeting with his entire team. Together, they began asking what they could do in the future to avoid such incidents: “We’re like, OK what can we do now? Let’s really look at this and how can we move forward in a better way?”
Johnson added:
“There are safety protocols and measures that we have always taken in the movie business, that we take very seriously. These sets are safe sets and we’re proud of that. But accidents do happen and when something like this happens of this magnitude, this heartbreaking, I think the most prudent thing and the smartest thing to do is just pause for a second and really re-examine how you’re going to move forward and how we’re going to work together.”
Johnson and his team devised a new rule for his production company and any studio they collaborate with: “We’re not going to use real guns. That’s it.”
Action films starring Johnson, the second highest-paid actor in Hollywood, have grossed about $10 billion worldwide. His production company currently has about two dozen action movies in varying stages of development.
