Guns banned from set of The Crow reboot after Brandon Lee’s death

The director of the upcoming reboot of The Crow has revealed that he banned all firing weapons from the set because of the death of Brandon Lee, who was shot and killed while making the original film 30 years before.

Lee, the son of Bruce Lee, was accidentally shot in the abdomen while filming a scene for The Crow in 1994. He died in hospital, aged 28.

Related: ‘It was a horrific night’: 30 years on from the on-set death of Brandon Lee

The Crow reboot’s director, Rupert Sanders, told Variety that Lee’s death was on his mind, as was the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who was fatally shot on the set of Rust due to real rounds being loaded into a prop gun held by the star, Alec Baldwin. Hutchins was killed in 2021, a year before Sanders began shooting The Crow.

“Safety is a No 1 priority,” he said. “Film sets are very dangerous. There are fast-moving cars with cranes stuck on the top. There are stunt guys falling on high wires down steps. Even just walking around a set at night with rain machines and lights – you’re working in an industrial environment. So it’s dangerous. You have to be safe. The first day I met with the special effects department and the armorer, who was great, in Prague. They were very safety-conscious. They follow all the same guidelines as the military when dealing with weapons, but I didn’t even want to risk that.

“So I said, categorically, ‘We will have no firing weapons on set’, which means we didn’t have one gun that could have had a live round or a blank round anywhere near it ever, so that no projectile could go in.”

He said they used Airsoft guns, which are used recreationally, as well as “rubber or metal decoys that are functional but have no firing mechanism.”

Related: Life without Bruce and Brandon: Shannon Lee on losing her superstar father and brother

Sanders said using fake guns require extra money to be spent on visual effects, to add muzzle flash and smoke, but said it “was a price worth paying … to me, that was a very worthwhile spend for everyone’s safety and comfort going into this project”.

Based on a comic book of the same name, The Crow follows Eric Draven, a rock guitarist murdered by a gang along with his fiancee. The new film stars Bill Skarsgård and musician FKA twigs.

The death of Hutchins resulted in changes in Hollywood, with film production and firearms experts reporting that the accident lead to more active interest in gun safety and the increased use of technology to replicate gunfire.