Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson has announced that his production company, Seven Bucks Productions, will no longer use real guns on any of its productions, in response to the fatal shooting of Halyna Hutchins on the set of Rust.
Hutchins, a 42-year-old cinematographer, was accidentally killed on October 21 after actor Alec Baldwin fired a functional prop firearm that had been loaded with live ammunition — unbeknownst to him.
Speaking about the tragedy and his recent decision, Johnson told Variety that he was "heartbroken" by Hutchins' death.
"We lost a life," the former WWE wrestler continued to the publication at the premiere of his new Netflix film, Red Notice. "My heart goes out to her family and everybody on set. I've known Alec, too, for a very long time."
"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," he continued, detailing that his future productions will switch over to "rubber guns" and "take care" of any visual effects in post-production.
"We're not going to worry about the dollars, we won't worry about what it costs," he added.
The 49-year-old went on to say that he and his team at Seven Bucks Productions spoke about the safety changes they would implement on set mere hours after the news of the tragic accident.
Baldwin, spoke publicly about the tragedy last week.
Per TMZ, the actor spoke to the press on Saturday, October 30, in Manchester, Vermont. He revealed that he could not comment on the investigation, but did tell reporters: "She was my friend, she was my friend."
He went on: "The day I arrived in Santa Fe to start shooting, I took her to dinner with Joel [Souza], the director. We were a very, very well-oiled crew shooting a film together, and then this horrible event happened.
"This is a one-in-a-trillion episode," he added.
The SNL star also revealed that he is in contact with Hutchins' husband and their nine-year-old son, saying: "We are in constant contact with him because we're very worried about his family and his kid."
On October 26, a district attorney in Santa Fe, New Mexico, announced that she had not ruled out criminal charges over the death of Hutchins.
"We haven’t ruled out anything," Mary Carmack-Altwies, said, as reported by The New York Times. "Everything at this point, including criminal charges, is on the table."
