John Wick 4 director shares the true reason why filmmakers use 'real guns’ on sets

After the fatal accident that happened on the set of movie Rust, Hollywood directors have been careful about using real guns on sets. In a recent interview, John Wick 4 director, Chad Stahelski, has shared why directors prefer using real guns, instead of designing the scenes using graphics. For the John Wick franchise, in which there are several action scenes, the filmmaker uses ‘electric guns’ in which gunfire is made in post edit. 

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Chad has shared that “My feeling is that there’s no reason to have a live firearm on set.” He added, “We can create cities and spaceships and Godzilla and all these things. We have the technology to do the same with firearms. But, for the last 100 years, Hollywood’s been using real firearms. And for prop houses, armorers or supply houses to switch over, it would make their entire stock of real firearms useless.”

He also revealed that the real reason why filmmakers do not use electric guns is because of cost cutting. He says, “It comes down to the fact that it would cost certain people a great deal of money to switch over. No one wants to say that, but that’s the real reason. You don’t need firearms. The alternative is just going to cost you more money.”

Before getting into direction, Chad Stahelski, used to work as a stuntman. He shared his experience from a time when technology had not evolved enough to make guns using CGI. He said, “Back in the day, when it all started, they came up with blanks." Stahelski explained, “A blank is a bullet without the projectile, but they couldn’t put you and me in the same shot, 5 feet apart, and one of us pull the trigger. The concussive force coming out at the end of the barrel would be enough to shatter your skull. Accidents like that did happen and people died because of it.”

Fatal accident on the set of the movie Rust 

On October 21 2021, actor Alec Baldwin and the team of the movie Rust were rehearsing for a scene. Alec pointed a pistol and the gun fired bullets which wounded director Jeol Souza and killed Halyna Hutchins. Hutchins’s family sued Alec Baldwin of involuntary manslaughter.