15 Movie Sets You Didn't Know Were Hell To Work On

9. The Abyss

Why It Was Hell: On the first day of shooting, one of the water tanks sprung a massive leak, and this was just the start of a torturously long, six-month shoot with 70-hour work weeks. The cast ultimately ended up manifesting psychological symptoms, with Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio having a breakdown and Ed Harris suddenly sobbing on his way home from the set. At one point, Cameron told Mastrantonio to urinate in her wet suit rather than leave for a bathroom break, and as frustration built, she once screamed at him, "We are not animals!" Both of these actors largely refuse to talk about the film's production in interviews. As for the crew, shooting so much of the film in water caused huge technical issues, and over-clorinated water led many of the divers to suffer skin damage. Eventually, the cast and crew became so burned out that they began destroying furniture in their dressing rooms. Even when filming wrapped, the project was $4 million over-budget. Was It Worth It?: The Abyss was a rare box office miss for James "Avatar" Cameron (grossing just $90 million against a $70 million budget), but the film was highly acclaimed for its visual effects, suspenseful narrative and well-developed characters, going on to score four Oscar nods, and winning one (for Best Visual Effects, of course). Still, the master filmmaker has made so much money for Fox both before and since that they'll probably let him have this one...