Guy Ritchie has banned real guns from his film sets following the Rust tragedy as says he used only Airsoft pellet weapons on The Covenant starring Jake Gyllenhaal

Guy Ritchie has banned real guns from his film sets following the Rust tragedy.

The 54-year-old director is a veteran of the action genre and many of his movies feature firearms.

But he only used Airsoft pellet weapons on his new film The Covenant.

The movie stars Jake Gyllenhaal as a US Army sergeant who returns to Afghanistan in an attempt to rescue an interpreter who helped him during the war.

Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed by a prop gun with real bullets fired by actor Alec Baldwin in October 2021 on the set of the Western film and Guy says a lot of changes have been made since the horrific incident.

‘That whole thing has changed now, the whole game has changed,’ he told Newsweek magazine.

‘We haven’t used a real weapon since (the Rust shooting). So there were no real weapons,’ the ex-husband of Madonna added. 

‘It’s the first shoot that we had, which I have to tell you, it’s a tremendous relief for all of us.

‘(Airsoft weapons) look as good as real weapons, they do all the functions as a real weapon. You get a gas discharge.

‘It all seems as authentic as it can be, but as Jake said, it’s Airsoft though. No one can get it any trouble.’

Guy said that he never enjoyed using guns during the making of his films and the Rust shooting made him re-evaluate the process.

The Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels director said: ‘I’ve never liked real firearms.

‘I had no idea why we carried on in the industry with real firearms,’ he added. ‘It was just one of those things that everyone did, and it’s a tremendous relief, as I’m sure it is for Jake, as much as it is for me, that you don’t have that sword hanging over us any longer.’

Gun in hand: The movie stars Jake Gyllenhaal as a US Army sergeant who returns to Afghanistan in an attempt to rescue an interpreter who helped him during the war. Guy told Newsweek magazine: ‘That whole thing has changed now, the whole game has changed’

This comes after prosecutors will dismiss an involuntary manslaughter charge against Baldwin in the fatal 2021 shooting of a cinematographer on the set of the Western film Rust.

It was the only charge he faced.

Still, prosecutors alluded to new revelations in the investigation while cautioning that Baldwin has not been absolved.

A follow-up investigation will remain active and an involuntary manslaughter charge against Hannah Gutierrez Reed, the weapons supervisor on the film, remains unchanged, special prosecutors Kari Morrisey and Jason Lewis said. 

An online status hearing was scheduled Friday in state District Court for both defendants.

‘New facts were revealed that demand further investigation and forensic analysis,’ the prosecutors said Thursday in a news release, without elaborating on those facts. ‘This decision does not absolve Mr. Baldwin of criminal culpability and charges may be refiled. Our follow-up investigation will remain active and on-going.’

Plugging his film: Gyllenhaal attends the Los Angeles premiere of The Covenant on April 17,  in Los Angeles

Easier: The Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels director said: ‘I’ve never liked real firearms. ‘I had no idea why we carried on in the industry with real firearms. It was just one of those things that everyone did, and it’s a tremendous relief’

Lawyers for Baldwin were first to announce that prosecutors were changing course, in a sharp turnaround for the Hollywood luminary who just a few months ago was confronting the possibility of a yearslong prison sentence.

‘We are pleased with the decision to dismiss the case against Alec Baldwin and we encourage a proper investigation into the facts and circumstances of this tragic accident,’ defense attorneys Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro said in a statement.

Baldwin was pointing a pistol at cinematographer Hutchins during a rehearsal when it went off, killing her and wounding director Joel Souza.

Baldwin has said the gun fired accidentally and he did not pull the trigger. An FBI forensic report found the weapon could not have fired unless the trigger was pulled, however.

In March, Rust safety coordinator and assistant director David Halls pleaded no contest to a conviction for unsafe handling of a firearm and a suspended sentence of six months of probation. He agreed to cooperate in further inquiries into the fatal shooting.

Dark days: Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed by a prop gun with real bullets fired by actor Alec Baldwin in October 2021 on the set of the Western film and Guy says ‘the whole game has changed’ since the incident. Seen in 2015

A defense attorney for Halls said Friday that he is happy for Baldwin and also wishes the best for the Hutchins family.

‘Mr. Halls never believed Mr. Baldwin should be charged with a crime. It was a tragic accident that is best resolved out of criminal court,’ defense attorney Lisa Torraco said in an email.

When the manslaughter charges were announced in January, Santa Fe District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies said the case was about equal justice under the law and accountability in Hutchins´ death, regardless of the fame or fortune of those involved. She said the Ukrainian-born cinematographer´s death was tragic – and preventable.

A new legal team took over prosecution of Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed in late March, after the original special prosecutor appointed in the case resigned.

More to this: A follow-up investigation will remain active and an involuntary manslaughter charge against Hannah Gutierrez Reed, the weapons supervisor on the film, remains unchanged, special prosecutors Kari Morrisey and Jason Lewis said

The dismissal of the charge against Baldwin, also a coproducer on Rust, abruptly changes the tenor of the investigation, said John Day, a Santa Fe-based criminal defense attorney who is not involved with the case.

‘It does give the impression that the people left holding the bag are the lowest people on that chain,’ Day said. ‘This is very different from what the original prosecutor said.’

When word of the dismissal came, Baldwin was at Yellowstone Film Ranch on the set of a rebooted ‘Rust’ production. Preparations for filming were underway Thursday at its new location in Montana, 18 months after the shooting shut it down, a representative for Rust Movie Productions said.

Gutierrez-Reed´s attorneys said they fully expect her to be exonerated in the judicial process.

Done: The case against Baldwin had already been diminishing. A weapons charge that could have meant a much longer sentence was dismissed

‘The truth about what happened will come out and the questions that we have long sought answers for will be answered,’ the lawyers, Jason Bowles and Todd Bullion, said in a statement.

The case against Baldwin had already been diminishing. A weapons charge that could have meant a much longer sentence was dismissed.

The A-list actor’s 40-year career has included the early blockbuster The Hunt for Red October and a starring role in the sitcom 30 Rock, as well as iconic appearances in Martin Scorsese’s The Departed and a film adaptation of David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross.

In recent years he was known for his impression of former President Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live.

His rock: Alec has said that his wife Hilaria has been by his side through the tragedy

The 65-year-old has worked little since the shooting but hardly went into hiding. He stayed active on social media, making Instagram videos, posting podcast interviews and pictures of his wife and seven children.

Plans to resume filming were outlined last year by the cinematographer’s widower, Matthew Hutchins, in a proposed settlement to a wrongful death lawsuit that would make him an executive producer. Souza has said he will return to directing Rust to honor the legacy of  Hutchins.

Despite the settlement, attorneys for the Hutchins family said they welcomed the criminal charges against Baldwin when they were filed. They had no immediate comment on the pending dismissal Thursday.

After a scathing safety review by regulators in New Mexico that detailed ignored complaints and misfires before Hutchins’ death in October 2021, the production company agreed to pay a $100,000 fine.

Baldwin has not traveled to New Mexico to appear in court, which is not required of him under state law. Evidentiary hearings had been scheduled for next month to determine whether to proceed toward trial.