A Hollywood prop master with a resume spanning three decades said Monday he turned down an opportunity to join the crew of Rust—the New Mexico film production where a cinematographer was accidentally killed last week after actor and executive producer Alec Baldwin fired a faulty prop gun.
Neal Zoromski said he was initially excited to join Rust, but got a “bad feeling” during initial discussions with production staff.
“There were massive red flags,” Zoromski told The Los Angeles Times.
After reviewing the production plan, he concluded producers were prioritizing keeping costs low over ensuring crew safety.
“I take my job incredibly seriously,” Zoromski said. “As the prop master, you have to be concerned about safety. I’m the guy who hands the guns to the people on set.”
Zoromski was particularly troubled by the pace of the production schedule. Many of the guns being used in Rust were antiques, and required regular inspections and cleanings between shoots.
The schedule didn’t allow for such protocols, Zoromski said.
He also worried about understaffing behind the scenes. He initially asked for a department of five technicians, but producers balked at the cost. He then lowered the request to one experienced assistant prop master and an “armorer,” or gun wrangler.
He was rebuffed again and offered one assistant to handle both tasks.
“You never have a prop assistant double as the armorer,” Zoromski told The Times. “Those are two really big jobs.”
That was the last straw. Anxieties exacerbated by what he described as production managers’ relative inexperience and dismissiveness, Zoromski ultimately passed on the gig.
“After I pressed ‘send’ on that last email, I felt, in the pit of my stomach: ‘That is an accident waiting to happen,’” he said.
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