Brandon Lee's Fiancee: 'There's No Such Thing as a Prop Gun'

Lee, son of Bruce Lee, was killed on movie set in 1993, in similar way as Halyna Hutchins
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 26, 2021 7:47 AM CDT
Brandon Lee's Fiancee: 'There's No Such Thing as a Prop Gun'
In this Jan. 30, 1986, file photo, actor Brandon Lee, son of Bruce Lee, poses for a picture.   (AP Photo/Lacy Atkins, File)

The family of Brandon Lee, the actor who died in 1993 in a freak gun accident while filming The Crow, knows too well the feelings that the family of Halyna Hutchins is going through. After the 42-year-old cinematographer was killed last week in New Mexico when a gun being handled by Alec Baldwin apparently misfired during filming of the movie Rust, Lee's Twitter account, run by his sister, Shannon Lee, tweeted: "No one should ever be killed by a gun on a film set. Period." Now Brandon Lee's fiancee, Eliza Hutton, is also speaking out, for the first time since her love died nearly three decades ago, calling Hutchins' death something that could have, and should have, been prevented.

"Twenty-eight years ago, I was shattered by the shock and grief of losing the love of my life, Brandon Lee, so senselessly," Hutton tells People. "My heart aches again now for Halyna Hutchins' husband and son, and for all those left in the wake of this avoidable tragedy." Hutton, who was to marry Lee on April 17, 1993—he was killed just two weeks earlier—notes she hopes the powers that be "consider alternatives to real guns on sets." She underscored her feelings in a post on her private Instagram this week, writing: "There's no such thing as a prop gun."

Shannon Lee spoke more on the topic as well, telling the Hollywood Reporter on Friday that Hutchins' death has "[stirred] up a lot of emotions and frustration" for her family. "There are rules that are supposed to be followed," she said. "I am certainly not pointing fingers at anyone because that would be the wrong thing to do. But, there is no reason for something like this to happen." She also said she felt for Baldwin, "and even more so" for those who loved Hutchins.

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Meanwhile, Fox News revisits the story of Michael Massee, the actor who accidentally shot Brandon Lee on The Crow set. In the scene they were shooting, Massee was supposed to "shoot" Lee at close range with a .44 Magnum revolver that contained blanks. However, there was a bullet fragment in the gun's chamber, and the gunpowder in the blank's cartridge ignited it and sent it flying in Lee's direction. No charges were filed, but Massee, devastated by the accident, took a long break from acting. "It's something I'm going to live with," he told Extra in 2005, via CNN. "It took me the time it took to be able to not so much put it in perspective but to be able to move on with my life." Massee died of cancer in 2016, at the age of 61. (More Alec Baldwin stories.)

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