Exactly 20 years before James Cameron once again became the sci-fi god of our time with the first Avatar part in 2009, he made a real genre hit. This refers to Abyss from 1989, in which a special team is supposed to investigate a mysterious object on the bottom of the ocean.
On the occasion of a current 4K screening of the longer special edition of Abyss, Cameron spoke again about the production of the sci-fi film almost ended fatally for him. He could only save his life with a punch.
James Cameron only survived a sci-fi film by taking extreme measures
According to Variety, the director described an incident during filming where he put himself underwater wearing scuba gear to shoot. Here he was slowly running out of air and Cameron had to get back to the surface as quickly as possible.
A rescue diver came to his aid, but the regulator that was pushed into Cameron’s mouth was defective. This caused the director to get water into his lungs instead of air. Since he couldn’t communicate with the rescue diver underwater, Cameron ended up punching him in the face as a last resort. Then he quickly swam to the surface of the water and survived.
Where can you see James Cameron’s sci-fi hit Abyss?
If the dramatic story surrounding the filming has made you want to watch Abyss, you can currently only order the sci-fi film on DVD. *
Cameron’s Blockbuster is currently not available anywhere with a streaming subscription. Avatar and Avatar 2 stream with a Disney+ subscription.
*. If you purchase through these links or take out a subscription, we receive a commission. .