56 Abyss, The (1989)
Description
This article is from the Movie Trivia, by Murray Chapman muzzle@cs.uq.oz.au with numerous contributions by others.
56 Abyss, The (1989)
- Director 'James Cameron' (qv) contacted 'Orson Scott Card' (qv) before
filming began with the possibility of producing a book based on the film.
Scott initially told his agent that he doesn't do ``novelizations'', but
when she told him that the director was Cameron, he agreed to consider it.
The script arrived, and Card signed on after receiving assurances from
Cameron that he would be free to develop his ``novel'' the way he wanted
to. After a meeting with Cameron, Card immediately wrote the first three
chapters, which dealt with events concerning Bud and Lindsay Brigman that
occured before the events in the film. Cameron gave these chapters to
'Ed Harris' (qv) and 'Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio' (qv), who used it to
develop their characters.
- The masks were specially designed to show the actors faces, and had
microphones fitted so that dialog could be recorded as the action happened.
- Most of the underwater filming took place in a half-completed nuclear
reactor cooling tank in Gaffney, South Carolina. The cast and crew
frequently spent enough time underwater to force them to undergo
decompression before surfacing. The tank was filled to a depth of 40 feet,
but there was still too much light from the surface, so billions of tiny
black plastic beads were floated on the surface to block the light.
- A ``special edition'' is available on videotape, and was released
theatrically in 1994. It features an extra 28 minutes of footage including:
- the Deep Core crew singing a country and western song as they ``truck'' the
rig to the abyss
- more details about Bud and Lindsay's breakup
- further development of the tension between the USA and the USSR, including
a naval collission
- a massive tidal wave caused by the NTIs
- Fluid breathing is a reality: the rat actually did breathe liquid, although
the suit that Bud wore was a mock-up.
- DIRTRADE(James Cameron): [nice cut]: at the beginning of the movie,
the blue ``Y'' from the opening credits extends and then fades to the
underwater scenery with the submarine.
- DIRTRADE(James Cameron): [feet]: when the soldiers arrive at the
supply ship and jump out of the helicopters. See also "Aliens (1986)" (qv).
- DIRTRADE(James Cameron): [nuke]
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