Anyone who makes films with James Cameron is dealing with a perfectionist. Which is why the director demanded everything from his actors when filming Abyss. Accidents have occurred several times during the demanding underwater recordingswhich almost cost the life of Ed Harris, among others.
Ed Harris and James Cameron almost died while filming Abyss underwater
There were several extremely dangerous incidents during the filming of Abyss from 1989. The film itself is about recovering nuclear warheads from a sunken US submarine. However, the rescue at depth is much more complicated than expected. In addition, people also encounter mysterious, previously unknown and apparently intelligent creatures under water.
The film was shot in a huge water tank that was supposed to represent the underwater world of the sea. James Cameron himself had to punch a rescue diver in the face to draw attention to the fact that he was running out of oxygen while he with cement shoes at the bottom of the water tank stood.
Ed Harris suffered a similar fate. The actor told Total Film that he thought he was going to die:
For a brief moment I actually thought ‘that’s it’.
For a particular recording, Ed Harris had to be on a cable several times a day in an underwater tank around nine meters deep let it move through the area. Because his character gets water in his helmet in the film, he couldn’t breathe in real life and had to hold his breath. Normally, at his signal, an auxiliary diver should come and bring him a breathing apparatus.
Only this diver got tangled up in some cables. A replacement diver rushed over and managed the But put the breathing device in your mouth the wrong way round by Ed Harris. As a result, the man inhaled a mixture of air and water, which is extremely unhealthy and of course completely unexpected. Another employee had the presence of mind to turn the mouthpiece correctly. Fortunately, everyone involved survived the difficult filming.