It was supposed to be their big break. Now a pair of 24-year-olds are at center of ‘Rust’ shooting investigation
When Hannah Gutierrez Reed landed a job working on the Alec Baldwin western “Rust,” she couldn’t believe her luck.
“How f----- up is it that life’s been so good lately I can’t help but feel like I’m about to fall from grace?” she posted on Facebook on Sept. 29, two days after being offered a dual position as the film’s armorer and key prop assistant.
She had cause to celebrate her good fortune. It was unusual for a 24-year-old who had only been in charge of guns on one prior feature film to get a head armorer position — let alone additional prop responsibility. She would work in New Mexico alongside Sarah Zachry, also 24, who had been hired as the movie’s property master.
The two 20-somethings met just eight days before production. One of their first outings took them to an adobe-style office in Albuquerque with no sign, tinted windows and dying vegetation. The proprietor, weapons expert Seth Kenney, was providing the guns and some ammunition for the film as well as serving as “armorer mentor.” He would work behind the scenes, offering advice and direction to the novices. While Kenney’s name appeared on an internal “Rust” crew list, he was not listed on daily call sheets viewed by the Los Angeles Times.
In a written statement, Kenney confirmed that his company, PDQ Arm & Prop LLC, provided “the guns, Blanks and a portion of Dummy Rounds” for “Rust” but said it “did not provide Live Ammunition.” He said that the “Rust” production company erroneously listed him as the “armorer mentor,” that he did not “hold any other position or capacity with ‘Rust,’ and prior to the tragedy had never been to set or the production office.”
Kenney had referred Gutierrez Reed for the job on “Rust,” according to him and a person close to the production who was not authorized to comment. He had previously worked with her father, industry gunslinger Thell Reed, on a few film projects.
Kenney described Gutierrez Reed as “atypical” for the armorer role but said she had grown up on sets and been trained by her father. Kenney also said that he “made the introduction” between Zachry
