Quentin Tarantino explained Alec Baldwin was responsible "to some degree" for his gun on the set of "Rust."
A judge dismissed Baldwin's involuntary manslaughter charge in July mid-trial after finding the prosecution withheld exculpatory evidence from the defense. "Rust" cinematographer Halyna Hutchins died Oct. 21, 2021, after a gun Baldwin was holding fired on set. Tarantino shared his beliefs regarding guns on movie sets during an appearance on "Club Random" with Bill Maher.
"You're the perfect one to ask. Who has been on more sets than you?" Maher asked Tarantino.
"It's a situation, I think I'm being fair enough to say, that the armorer — the guy who handles the gun — is 90% responsible for everything that happens when it comes to that gun, but... the actor's 10% responsible," Tarantino said. "It's a gun. You are a partner in the responsibility, to some degree."
JUDGE DISMISSES ALEC BALDWIN'S INVOLUNTARY MANSLAUGHTER CASE IN STUNNING VICTORY FOR ACTOR
"So what do you do to test it?" Maher questioned.
"They show it to you," Tarantino explained. "If there are steps to go through, you go through them. And it's done with due diligence, and you know it's f---ing for real all right."
"What should he have done?" Maher asked. "Should he have looked into the barrel?" The podcast host noted: "You can't shoot it because then you're like using it."
Tarantino explained the steps many industry experts claimed should have been taken in the moments before Baldwin was handed the gun on the "Rust" set. The steps include showing the barrel of the gun is clear and showing the actor the blanks inside the gun.
Representatives for Baldwin did not respond to Fox News Digital's immediate request for comment.
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A jury found "Rust" armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed guilty of involuntary manslaughter in March. She is currently serving her 18-month sentence but plans to appeal following Baldwin's case dismissal.
"The state's willful withholding of this information was intentional and deliberate," Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer said inside the New Mexico courthouse just a few days into Baldwin's trial. "If this conduct does not rise to the level of bad faith, it certainly comes so near to bad faith as to show signs of scorching prejudice.
"There is no way for the court to right this wrong."
The stunning blow to the prosecution team, which had been working on the case for more than three years, arrived after the state had called only seven witnesses.
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Baldwin's lawyer argued gun safety was not Baldwin's responsibility in his opening statements at trial.
"The actor’s job is to act," he told the jury. "He’s Harland Rust. He’s an outlaw running for his life, who in the incident in question, he’s pulling a six-shooter to try to defend himself. That’s why the gun has to be safe before it gets into the actor’s hands."
"His mind is somewhere else: in the being of another, a century away, an outlaw."
