James Cameron smiling at the Paris premiere of Avatar: Fire & Ash
James Cameron reveals an important lesson he won't repeat after making The Abyss. The science-fiction movie, which was directed and written by Cameron, made its theatrical debut in 1989. It follows a race between the Americans and the Soviets to recover a sunken submarine, only to discover something far more surprising.
While speaking with Vanity Fair, Cameron explains that The Abyss ignited his passion for being a deep ocean explorer, and it made him want to make the film look as realistic as possible. This involved the actors filming underwater, becoming comfortable as divers, and wearing the proper safety equipment as they performed. These conditions led to a shoot with many physical and emotional challenges for the actors, especially for those who were claustrophobic and who were "terrified" by what was being asked of them. From this experience, Cameron learned not to take this approach again and to avoid putting his actors under such tremendous pressure. Check out his comments below: Then after The Abyss, of course I applied those connections to my real life and I became an actual deep ocean explorer as a result of that. So, there was the challenge of actually making the film and making it look real. And I had to understand a lot about how the deep ocean worked. In terms of the dramatic of it, I had to get the actors comfortable being divers. If you're casting a Western, every actor will tell you they can ride a horse. And it turns out that if you ask all your potential cast members if they are claustrophobic, no one will say that they get claustrophobic, and then you find out later. And some of them loved it and really leaned into it. And some of them were terrified. We did take some heat on that for putting people into a high pressure situation. And we did, we had challenges. I just thought,"Hey, guys, we're all going to understand this challenge, and we're all going to go into this together." And what you find out is that some people are a little closer to that line of stress than you would want. I wouldn't do that again. I wouldn't put people under that kind of pressure, to use a water metaphor. I was young and kind of crazy, and I just assumed everyone else was young and crazy too. The actors weren't the only ones who faced dangerous circumstances during the production of The Abyss. James Cameron had his own near-death experience when he almost drowned due to a regulator in his diving equipment that wasn't working. Nevertheless, many of James Cameron's future movies incorporate water in significant ways, including Titanic , Avatar: The Way of Water , and Avatar: Fire and Ash . While his passion for the ocean and immersive filmmaking remain, he has made sure that the Titanic and Avatar cast members did not have to endure the kind of stressful and even life-threatening issues that occurred while making The Abyss. Along with creating safer and better experiences for the entire cast and crew, Cameron's other water-based movies have gone on to be far more profitable at the box office than The Abyss, which only grossed $90 million worldwide. Titanic became the highest-grossing movie of all time after making more than $2 billion globally. Subscribe for Insider Film Lessons from James Cameron Subscribing to the newsletter gives curated behind-the-scenes coverage of filmmaking — from underwater production challenges to how directors rethink safety and craft. Get focused analysis and lessons inspired by James Cameron's experiences. Subscribe Subscribe for Insider Film Lessons from James Cameron Subscribing to the newsletter gives curated behind-the-scenes coverage of filmmaking — from underwater production challenges to how directors rethink safety and craft. Get focused analysis and lessons inspired by James Cameron's experiences. Subscribe By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept Valnet’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime. Titanic is now fourth on the all-time chart, but The Way of Water moved up to the third spot after earning $2.3 billion worldwide. Fire and Ash's opening weekend box office has already made it one of 2025's highest grossing movies, and the franchise has proven in the past that it can perform well over a long period of time. Behind the scenes, a movie like The Abyss is one of the more controversial chapters in the filmmaker's prolific career. As evidenced by his comments, though, he learned from the experience and has ensured not to repeat the same kind of mistakes in the ensuing films he made. 8.5/10 8/10 The Abyss 10 stars 9 stars 8 stars 7 stars 6 stars 5 stars 4 stars 3 stars 2 stars 1 star Like Follow Followed PG-13 Adventure Thriller Science Fiction Release Date August 9, 1989 Runtime 140 minutes Director James Cameron Writers James Cameron Producers Gale Anne Hurd Cast See All
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