The production of James Cameron’s 1989 underwater epic The Abyss was notoriously grueling for its cast. They were subjected to 12-to-15-hour workdays, and nearly half of filming was done 40 feet underwater in 2 huge tanks. Cast and crew came up with several nicknames for the film, such as “Son of Abyss” and “The Abuse”.
Cameron nearly drowned during filming when his SCUBA tank ran out of air. Star Ed Harris also nearly drowned while filming one scene, (resulting in him punching Cameron, who had continued filming, in the face), and later said he started sobbing in his car on the way home from the set due to the stress.
But it was Harris’s leading lady, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, who was hit hardest.
**plot spoilers ahead**
In one particularly intense and emotional scene, Mastrantonio’s character Lindsey drowns, and her husband Bud (Harris) desperately tries to resuscitate her. Mastrantonio was soaking wet and freezing, with her shirt torn to expose her breasts; Harris had to pound on her chest, shake her, and repeatedly slap her in the face.
This would be a stressful situation for any actor, and was compounded by the fact that Cameron — always known for demanding retake after retake — made her film the scene over and over and over again over a span of several hours. A broken camera further compounded the trouble.
Mastrantonio finally snapped, and had a complete emotional breakdown. “We are not animals!” she screamed at Cameron, and stormed off the set, refusing to return unless he wrapped the scene.
She did complete the film, which was a critical and commercial success, but both she and Harris refused to talk about it, and vowed never to work with Cameron again — and neither ever has. Mastrantonio’s only comment about the experience was to say, “making The Abyss was a lot of things. Fun was not one of them.”
(EDIT: if this answer makes you want to watch The Abyss for the first time, I encourage it, but please watch the director’s cut. If you’ve seen only the theatrical version, please watch the director’s cut. It’s head and shoulders above the theatrical version.)