James Cameron is known for having directed some of the greatest movie classics such as The Terminator, Titanic, and Avatar. And although many consider him great, some people do not have good memories after working with him.
After the premiere and success of The Terminator and Aliens, James Cameron 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 Abyss, also known as The Secret of the Abyss.
It was a science fiction movie that follows the sinking of a submarine. There, a search party ventures into the depths of the ocean to find her remains, however, they end up finding something different. It was starring Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Michael Biehn, and Leo Burmester, among others.
The film had a fairly high budget due to all the set design and special effects needs, and although this earned it the Oscar for Best Special Effects, the film was a commercial failure and considered one of the director's weakest works. And the truth is that James Cameron's attitude was highly questioned by all the people involved in the film, especially his actors.
According to their protagonists, they had to undergo long days of filming and totally inhumane conditions. Having to film many scenes underwater, the actors had to film scenes 11 meters deep, and they had to stay there for more than an hour. In addition, they had to spend almost six months inside an isolated set. Actor Ed Harris remembers breaking down in tears several times over the bad experience.
But even so, the worst moment was experienced by Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio. The actress, who had gained popularity after starring in Scarface, played Dr. Lindsey Brigman, an engineer, and wife of the character played by Harris. The actress recalled a scene that she had to record that caused her a nervous breakdown in the middle of filming.
The cast was shooting a scene where her character drowns herself and her husband and the rest of her 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 Cameron, true to his perfectionism, forced the actors to redo the scene for a total of eight hours.
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio was wet and freezing, and her chest was exposed. In addition, Ed Harris had to repeatedly slap her, shake her, and press her chest, all without her reacting, as 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 for a long time.
James Cameron even proposed to continue the scene later, which caused the actress to explode into a crisis on the set. “We are not animals!” he yelled at the director before leaving the set, but not before warning him that if he didn't stop filming, he would resign. Later, Ed Harris had to fake resuscitation for some shots of the scene, as the actress refused to be part of them.
Even the actor recalled an occasion when he thought he was going to drown when being underwater, the lights went out and it was all so dark that he couldn't see her 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 of the window and objects against the walls. “We needed to let our frustrations out,” Harris revealed.
Needless to say, none of the performers have good memories of the film. “We never started and finished a scene in one day,” recalled Mastrantonio. Even James Cameron himself stated that the filming "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 and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio refused to promote the film. Harris 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 she would never work with Cameron again.
