I love reading movie trivia on IMDb. Some flicks have gobs of trivia but even just a few interesting facts are fun. Trivial Peruse is a feature where I share some of my favorite bits with you guys!
I recently rewatched The Abyss, and it’s still a fascinating film. Probably because it was a bitch to make. I mean, you combine James Cameron with filming in a giant tank of water and you’re gonna have a rough couple weeks.
The movie revolves around the crew of an undersea drilling platform who get drafted into the investigation of a downed U.S. submarine. Things get a little weird when they discover some aliens hanging out around…The Abyss. Enjoy!
“During underwater filming, Ed Harris almost drowned. While filming a scene where he had to hold his own breath at the bottom of the submerged set, Harris ran out of air and gave the signal for oxygen. Harris’ safety diver got hung up on a cable and could not get to him. Another crew member gave Harris a regulator, but it was upside down and caused him to suck in water. A camera man came over, ripped the upside down regulator, and gave him one in the correct orientation. Later that evening, Ed broke down and cried.”
Holy shit, you guys, The Abyss made Ed Harris have an emotional breakdown. Ed Harris, the bad guy from The Rock, A History of Violence, and Snowpiercer. It was that terrible. Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio had a similarly terrible experience and also had a breakdown while filming. The film’s cast and crew nicknamed it “The Abuse” for God’s sake!
“The scene with the water tentacle coming up through the moon pool was written so that it could be removed without interfering with the story, because no one knew how the effect would come out. The actors were interacting with a length of heater hose being held up by the crewmen. When the effects were completed, though, they exceeded everyone’s expectations and wildest hopes.”
That’s right, the filmmakers were prepared to ditch one of the coolest scenes in the whole movie. They were that unsure about the technology. In fact, they filmed this scene towards the end of production so as to give the effects team as much time as possible to perfect the CGI. No pressure, guys. Also, a length of heater hose held up by crewmen? That would have been hard not to laugh at.
“Real oxygenated fluorocarbon fluid was used in the rat fluid breathing scene. Dr. Johannes Kylstra and Dr. Peter Bennett of Duke University pioneered this technique and consulted on the film. The only reason for cutting to the actors’ faces was to avoid showing the rats defecating from momentary panic as they began breathing the fluid.”
Yup, this is a real technology, although I don’t think it’s widely used. Possible uses include diving (duh), medical treatment, and space travel. There’s a slightly disturbing video of a mouse breathing liquid that you can see above. Luckily it doesn’t show it crapping its mouse pants.
“For financial reasons, the “Deepcore” set was never dismantled. It stood in the abandoned (and drained) South Carolina nuclear power plant, where the film was shot. 20th Century Fox had posted signs around the set informing potential photographers that Fox still owned the set (and the designs) and that any photographs or video shooting of the set was prohibited by copyright law. Their official copyright information was on the Deepcore rig itself. A favorite destination for “urban explorers”, the sets and facility were eventually demolished in 2007 during a reconstruction project.”
At the time, Cameron’s set was the largest fresh water filtered tank in the world. It must have been tempting to explore the place after filming was completed. io9 has a pretty good look at what the set looked like about 10 years ago, a few years before it was finally disassembled in 2007. While we’re on the topic of the tank, it sounds like it was pretty intense to film in. Some actors’ hair turned green and white because of how heavily chrlorinated the water was and they spent so much time underwater that they’d frequently have to undergo decompression. James Cameron would pass the time watching dailies.
“The extended scenes with the aliens were cut from the theatrical release because it would have made the film almost three hours long. And back in 1989, a running time that long was considered a big commercial risk. Especially for a film with lots of action scenes and special effects. It increases the likelihood the film won’t turn a profit. The scenes were eventually restored in 1993 for the Special Edition.”
So the extended scene this is referring to, in case you haven’t seen it, takes place towards the end of the film. In the regular version, an alien picks up Bud (Harris) near the bottom of the abyss and takes him to his underwater ship. They save Bud and take him back to the surface, picking up the drilling platform and everyone on it on the way up.
Well in the extended version, the aliens basically threaten to wipe out humanity via giant tidal waves (due to our then current love affair with nuclear bombs and the Cold War and all that). Bud manages to talk the aliens off the ledge and the tidal waves recede. It’s pretty nuts that the tidal wave subplot is totally absent from the theatrical version, but at least it was restored in the Special Edition years later. You can watch the deleted scene above if you’re curious.
You can read more trivia about The Abyss here. Share your favorites in the comments below!