When James Cameron Was Allegedly Punched By Ed Harris. (Photo Credit – Instagram/Wikipedia)
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James Cameron, who has a long, sordid reputation for being quite difficult to work with, was once allegedly punched by one of his film’s leading man. According to The Things, rumors have persisted for years that The Abyss actor Ed Harris punched Cameron in the face. There is no record of Harris or Cameron ever verifying the claim. However, decades later, Ed Harris said that he hated filming The Abyss, noting the cast was mistreated during the film’s production.
Following the wild success of James Cameron’s 1986 film Aliens, he directed the underwater science fiction film The Abyss, which was reportedly shot in an abandoned power plant called the Cherokee Nuclear Power Plant. According to Starlog Magazine, Cameron built two largest freshwater tanks for the film, which were six stories deep and 210 feet wide.
The Abyss is probably Cameron’s most underrated film, forgotten by his fans. It didn’t help that the leading man only acknowledged the film’s existence decades later. This could be attributed to Ed Harris trying to wipe the memory from his consciousness as he had a miserable time filming. IMDb reported for decades, Harris refrained from discussing his experiences, saying, “I’m not talking about The Abyss, and I never will.”
However, over the years, a few stories about Harris’ experience in the film have surfaced, including punching James Cameron in the face. Harris Allegedly punched James Cameron after the actor nearly drowned and the director continued to film.
While Harris has never acknowledged the claims, in a 2016 interview, he told Entertainment Weekly that James Cameron mistreated the cast.
Ed Harris recalled a scene where he was slapping Mary Elizabeth across the face, and James Cameron did not yell cut despite running out of film in the camera.
He recalled, “We were guinea pigs, in a way. Jim wasn’t quite sure how this was all gonna go down… [in the drowning scene, I was] screaming at her to come back and wake up, and I was slapping her across the face, and I see that they’ve run out of film in the camera — there’s a light on the camera — and nobody had said anything.”
Harris said Elizabeth was so furious that she stood up and said, ‘We are not animals!’ and walked off the set. Harris noted, “They were going to let me just keep slapping her around!… It was very difficult.”
Given this story, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that Ed Harris punched James Cameron in the face over being mistreated on set.
