patrick.net

George Clooney said he doesn’t know Alec Baldwin well, doesn’t believe he or anyone else on the set of “Rust” intended “to do anything wrong” and calls the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins “a terrible accident.”

However, Clooney raised new questions about Baldwin’s actions on the set of the low-budget Western, both as the actor handling the gun that killed Hutchins on Oct. 21 and as one of the film’s producers.

In an interview on Marc Maron’s “WTF” podcast, the Oscar winner called Hutchins’ death “infuriating,” given strict gun safety protocols put in place on film and TV sets following the deaths of his friends, actors Jon-Erik Hexum and Brandon Lee in 1984 and 1993, respectively.

“Every single time I’m handed a gun on the set — every time — they hand me a gun, I look at it, I open it, I show it to the person I’m pointing it too, I show it to the crew,” Clooney said. “Every single take.”

Clooney, who has worked as an actor and director on film and TV sets for 40 years, continued, “Part of it is because of what happened to Brandon. Everyone does it. Everyone knows” that is the protocol to follow.”