It's worse when it is a documentary and the Germans are all carrying No 4 Mk1 rifles. Makes you wonder who the technical advisor was.
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It's worse when it is a documentary and the Germans are all carrying No 4 Mk1 rifles. Makes you wonder who the technical advisor was.
The conspiracy theories have started apparently the police have started the investigation by saying the round may have been planted, we will let it develop, I still remember Brandon Lee being shot by a prop gun.
You'd think with all the replica fire arms the world they'd use them but I guess you don't get the wow factor in the movie if the action does not cycle, or the belt does not move on the MG because they are using a LPG gun.
I read a report that some of the crew were doing live-fire for fun elsewhere on the ranch with the prop guns. With such lax standards...and the prior safety violations of the armorer (fired from other sets), I suppose it could be possible that left-over live ammunition was put back in whichever box they saw first when putting things away for the day. I think
Gross, even criminal, negligence is simplest most evident reason given what we've seen so far.
Also, from what I read of the SOP for those sets, when an actor is finally handed a firearm they are supposed to perform the final check. There are supposed to be 3 different people, beginning with the armorer ending with the actor, who check the weapon in succession, and it's not supposed to lay out in the open in between. Hell, even in USMC coming off the firing line...I would clear my weapon and make sure it was safe...the RSO on the line would do it next...shoving a cleaning rod in from the muzzle. Then before leaving the range grounds for the day an NCO would clear again. Been a long time since I've heard of a negligent discharge off the firing line.
This has been going on since the beginning of cinema I guess. I was watching the 1915 silent film "Birth of a Nation" a while back and in the civil war battles that were depicted the Confederate and Union troops were using M1873 Springfield Trapdoor rifles. I I also notice it in video games now too. I was playing Call of Duty Black ops one day and the plot line of the game is from about 1961 to 1968 and here I am running through the jungle not with my M16 or AK 47 but an AK 74 from the future.
Sometimes we forget that the technical advisor is just that - he can only 'advise' and if the director decides he is not going to do it that way then his will prevails. Sometimes it's money, sometime a clash of egos and a desire to show who's the boss - such clashes are common on movie production.