While everyone is still reeling with the Alec Baldwin incident, American Gangster director Ridley Scott revealed recently that he thought that Idris Elba had been shot by a prop gun in the set of the crime drama film. Right now, the director is doing the promotions for House of Gucci, which is the latest biographical crime drama. The film boasts of an ensemble cast that includes Lady Gaga, Al Pacino, Adam Driver, Jeremy Irons, and Jared Leto. The movie sees Patrizia Reggiani (played by Lady Gaga) who tries to exercise more control over the Gucci brand via her husband, Maurizio Gucci, played by Adam Driver – all of which leads to a scandal and violence.
The usage of firearms has been a highly debated topic recently
Like a lot of films that are based on the crime drama genre, House Gucci has some scenes that involve guns. The usage of firearms has been a highly debated topic since last month’s shooting accident on the set of Western Rust. Alec Baldwin misfired a prop gun which ended in the death of Cinematographer Hakuna Hutchins was killed with director Joel Souza fatally injured. Reports later revealed that some crew members already felt unsafe on the sets of the film, with a few even demanding a walkout.
While speaking to Ridley Scott, MailOnline about the time when Idris Elba thought he had been shot while filming American Gangster which also starred Denzel Washington. During this scene, Elba is threatened by Washington, Scott as Denzel to lean his gun on his forehead. Although it had a solid barrel, meaning no bullets could pass through it, when Washington pulled the trigger and it went “bang”, to everyone’s surprise.
Here’s the full quote:
What happened was, I said to Idris, ‘Listen, when he puts the gun to your head lean on the gun,’ because by the way this is a gun with a solid barrel, there is no aperture, I would never risk it – but when you pull the trigger there’s a recoil, there’s no blank, nothing. So I said, ‘I want you to lean on the gun’. He pulled the trigger and it goes bang. Idris thought he’d been shot and dropped to the sidewalk and said, ‘I’ve been shot!’
Since the October 21 shooting that took place, there have been enough debates about the use of firearms in TV and films. Actor and WWE star Dwayne even came forward to commit to using rubber guns while filming with his production, Seven Bucks Productions. Director James Gunn has also argued that the valuable discussion of using on-set firearms shouldn’t obscure discussions about the sense of irresponsibility and poor safety on the film sets. Meanwhile, even Letitia Wright also suffered from some injuries on the set of Black Panther 2, with now those injuries seeming to get serious that earlier reported. However, we don’t know if these happened due to the result of lax safety protocols.
Ridley Scott is known for using on-set firearms and weapons in a lot of his films, from shield and swords in Gladiator to guns in Blade Runner. Scott has further revealed that he is always very attentive and cautious while using firearms on the set of his films.
Idris Elba worked with Scott again in Prometheus which came out in 2012.
