CAGE RAGE

‘Blew My F*cking Eardrums Out!’: Nic Cage Reportedly Screamed at ‘Rust’ Armorer

Hannah Gutierrez-Reed allegedly twice fired a gun without warning near the cast and crew of “The Old Way.”

The head armorer of Rust caused actor Nicolas Cage to walk off set in a fury after she fired a gun—without warning, near cast and crew—twice in three days while they were shooting a Western over the summer, a crew member on that movie said. Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who came under fire for her lack of experience after a prop gun on the set of Rust fatally discharged last week, made basic safety mistakes on the set of Cage’s The Old Way, according to two members of the crew. After she fired a gun the second time, Cage allegedly yelled at her, “Make an announcement, you just blew my fucking eardrums out!”

Key grip Stu Brumbaugh said he told the movie’s assistant director Gutierrez-Reed needed to be let go. “We were moving too fast,” he told The Wrap. “She’s a rookie.” The Old Way was Gutierrez-Reed’s first project as head armorer. Brumbaugh and another unnamed crew member said Gutierrez-Reed walked onto set without announcing she was carrying live rounds. They also said she carried pistols under her armpits, accidentally aiming them at people. However, The Old Way’s prop master, who supervised Gutierrez-Reed, told the Los Angeles Times she was “surprised” by the Rust incident. A producer of The Old Way denied to The Wrap that the incident occurred, saying details “have been blown out of proportion.”