Early on in Hulu’s new documentary, Last Take: Rust and the Story of Halyna, Rust cast member Frances Fisher describes her first impression of armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who last year was convicted of involuntary manslaughter for the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
“This girl comes over an interrupts our conversation, and she’s got an armful of guns,” Fisher tells the camera. “Just barreled her way in. I thought, ‘It’s very unsafe to be walking around base camp with a bunch of guns in your hand.’”
This is accompanied by footage of a then 24-year-old Gutierrez on set. With her shaggy, dyed, bright purple-and-yellow hair, she’s easy to pick out.
Then Rust first assistant director Dave Halls tells the camera that he “knew that she had little experience” when he hired Gutierrez. “But my concern over lack of experience was tempered by knowing that her father was Thell Reed.”
Thell Reed, the doc explains, is a famed Hollywood stuntman and armorer, who has trained many an A-list actor on how to handle weapons on screen. The implication of this sequence? Gutierrez was immature, inexperienced, and a nepo baby to boot. No wonder she was the sole person on set convicted for Hutchins’ death, who died after being shot by a live bullet fired from a prop gun held by star Alec Baldwin.
But I came away from Last Take feeling not only sympathy for Gutierriez, but also anger on her behalf. Whether it was the documentary’s intention or not, Last Take paints a picture of a reckless, dangerous industry built on young, inexperienced, and underpaid labor. Then, when things inevitably go wrong, producers and other decision-makers higher up the food chain are all too happy to let that young labor take the fall.
Last Take was directed by Rachel Mason, a friend and colleague of Hutchins, who says in the film that Hutchins husband, Matthew, asked her to “make a film about Halyna’s life.” But, Mason said, she realized that she needed to first understand Hutchins’s death. And so the movie plays as an elevated true crime investigation into the shooting.
In the end, both Baldwin and Gutierrez were charged with one count each of involuntary manslaughter, for the accidental killing of Hutchins. Baldwin was the one who aimed the gun, while Gutierrez was ruled by a court of law to be the one responsible for the live bullets that ended up in the weapon. Gutierrez was found guilty and was sentenced to 18 months in prison. Baldwin’s charges with dismissed with prejudice, when a judge ruled the prosecution withheld evidence.
Last Take makes clear from the jump that Gutierrez was inexperienced and under-qualified for the role of armorer, but it’s not until much later in the film that we find out why she was hired in the first place, and how the producers set her up to fail.
In footage from her interview for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Gutierrez says she was approached about the job by Row Walters, after “two armors had bailed on them, and they could not find anybody in Albequerque, and that’s why they ended up choosing me.”
Or, as put another by Rust chief lighting technician Thomas James in his OSHA interview, “They were super cheap, and they were cheaping it out every freakin’ way they could. That’s why they ended up with a lowball armor. Because she’s the only one who would do it for the money they were give her.”
Moreover, Gutierrez goes on to explain not only was she a last-minute hire, but she was also expected to perform two jobs on set: armorer and key props assistant. She would be paid only eight days as an armorer—a higher pay rate than her job as key props assistant. Perhaps that’s why she got a stern email from Rust line producer Gabrielle Pickles chastising Gutierrez for “focusing far more on Armor and not supporting props as needed.”
When Gutierrez requested more time for gun maintenance and more training days for Baldwin, she got a blunt text reply from the line producer: “No more training days.”
Ultimately, OSHA issued a willful citation of the Rust production team, for “the plain indifference to the recognized hazards associated with the use of firearms on set that resulted in a fatality, severe injury, and unsafe working conditions,” meaning that the production had to pay $136,793 civil penalty fine. AD David Halls, who was charged with negligent use of a deadly weapon, took a plea deal and got six months of unsupervised probation, and no jail time. Gutierrez—who was sentenced to 18 months in prison last April—is the only one who will serve time.
I’m not saying Gutierrez isn’t at fault for Hutchins death. Clearly, as proven by a court of law, she was. But far too many productions just like Rust cut corners in an attempt to save money by throwing young, inexperienced crew members into dangerous situations. Rust was the unlucky example with deadly consequences. Though most of the crew interviewed in the film say they get no joy from the idea of Gutierrez to jail, you also get the sense they are all too willing to let her take the fall.
But, as OSHA inspector Lorenzo Montoya says in the documentary, “Hannah is a symptom. She’s not the illness.”
