10 Actors Who Broke Down On The Set Of Famous Movies

1. Ed Harris Is Forced To Swim An Incredible Distance Without Safety Measures; Breaks Down In His Car Afterwards - The Abyss

James Cameron is a notoriously nightmarish director to work under, according to, oh, pretty much everyone who has ever been in one of his movies. If you thought the director worked his cast hard in movies like Titantic and Avatar, though, it's presumably nothing compared to what went on during the filming of The Abyss, an underrated movie that took its toll on cast members like Mr. Ed Harris and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio.

During filming, Ed Harris - an underused actor if ever there were one - was subjected to incredibly harsh conditions during some of the movie's iconic scenes. At one point, Harris was forced to swim a long stretch of underwater without anything to aid his breathing - the shoot proved to be incredibly gruelling, and with Cameron at the helm, it was no picnic anyway.

So it makes sense that Harris admits to breaking down crying in his car on the way home after a particularly turbulent day.

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