After the premiere and success of The Terminator Y Aliens, james cameron He was already established as one of the most promising directors in Hollywood. And it was in this way, that in 1989, he wrote and directed The Abyssalso known as the secret of the abyss.
It was about one science fiction film which follows the sinking of a submarine. There, a search party goes into the depths of the ocean to find his remains, however, they end up finding something different. It was starring EdHarris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Michael Biehn, Leo Burmesteramong others.
The film had a fairly high budget due to all the needs of scenery and special effects, and although this earned him the Oscar award a Best Special Effects, the film was a commercial failure and considered one of the director’s weakest works. And the truth is that the attitude of james cameron It was highly questioned by all the people involved in the film, especially its actors.
According to their protagonists, they had to submit to long hours of filming totally inhumane conditions. Having to film many scenes underwater, the actors had to film scenes 11 meters deep, and had to stay there for more than an hour. In addition, they had to spend almost six months inside an isolated set. The actor Ed Harrisremembers having burst into tears on several occasions due to the bad experience.
But even so, the worst moment was lived Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio. The actress, who had gained popularity after starring Scarfaceplayed Dr. Lindsey Brigman, an engineer and wife of the character played by Harris. The actress recalled scene that he had to record which caused a nervous breakdown in the middle of filming.
The cast was shooting a scene where her character drowns and her husband and the rest of the group pull her to the surface and try to revive her. And although it could have been a quick scene to film, the truth is that james camerontrue to his perfectionism, he forced the actors to redo the scene for a total of eight hours.
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio she was wet and frozen, and her chest was bare. Also, Ed Harris I had to slap her, shake her and press her chest repeatedly, all without her reacting, since her character was unconscious. And although the situation was already demeaning for the actress, everything came to a head when they realized that the camera had run out of tape a long time ago.
james cameron He went so far as to propose continuing the scene afterwards, causing the actress to explode into a crisis on set. “We are not animals!” he yelled at the director to then leave the set, but not before warning him that if he did not stop filming, he would resign. Subsequently, Ed Harris He had to fake resuscitation for some shots of the scene, as the actress refused to be part of them.
Even the actor recalled a time when he thought he was going to drown when, while underwater, the lights went out and it was so dark he couldn’t see his hands or reach the surface. There was also a moment when the actors were in their dressing rooms when they suddenly started throwing furniture out the window and objects against the walls. “We needed to let out the frustrations” revealed Harris.
Needless to say that none of the performers have good memories of the film. “We never started and finished a scene back in the day,” he recalled. Mastrantonio. to the very james cameron He stated that the shoot “was harder than he thought it would be” and that he would never want to do something like that again.
Finally, the film finished shooting and both Ed Harris What Mary Elizabeth MastrantonioThey refused to promote the film. Harris He ended up giving in, but the actress was not part of it and for a long time refused to talk about the film. Furthermore, she added that I would never work with Cameron again.
Subscribe to our newsletter to receive all the news and participate in exclusive contests from here.
We want to give thanks to the author of this article for this remarkable material
We are not animals! The actress who accused James Cameron after living a horrible moment on the set