Thursday, August 27, 2026 at 6pm
Sag Harbor, NY — Sag Harbor Cinema hosts renowned producer Gale Anne Hurd for a screening of James Cameron’s The Abyss: Special Edition, an expanded cut of the director’s landmark 1989 marine science-fiction epic. Following the screening, Hurd will discuss the extraordinary production of The Abyss, including its demanding underwater shoot that has become the stuff of Hollywood legend, as well as its groundbreaking visual effects (Academy Award, 1990) and enduring influence on contemporary science fiction.
Starting with The Terminator (1984), which they co-wrote, Hurd’s pioneering collaboration with Cameron helped define a new era of blockbuster filmmaking. Seemingly undaunted by size and technical challenges, she oversaw the making of some of the most ambitious and successful big-budget science fiction films of the past four decades, including Aliens (1986), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), Armageddon (1998), The Incredible Hulk (2008), and, of course, The Abyss (1989). She also serves as the executive producer of The Walking Dead universe, having steered the production of all eleven seasons of the original AMC hit series as well as its multiple spinoffs.
Beyond her work in narrative film and television, Hurd has produced a number of acclaimed works of nonfiction, including The YouTube Effect, which premiered at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival, and three documentaries celebrating Native American history and culture created in partnership with director Valerie Red-Horse Mohl: True Whispers: The Story of the Navajo Code Talkers, Choctaw Code Talkers, and Mankiller.
“Fearless is a word that comes to mind when I think of Gale Anne Hurd. Her producing acumen, her understanding of film and her passion for genre — cultivated since the early years as an assistant to Roger Corman — have brought Hollywood blockbusters as close to avant-garde as they could ever be. I am thrilled that she will appear at the Cinema with one of her most breathtaking films,” says SHC’s Artistic Director Giulia D’Agnolo Vallan.
Set aboard an experimental deep-sea drilling platform, The Abyss follows a civilian diving team (led by Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) enlisted by the U.S. Navy to recover a sunken nuclear submarine. As tensions mount in the depths of the ocean, the crew encounters a mysterious and otherworldly intelligence, leading to one of the most ambitious and visually astonishing science-fiction films ever made. The Abyss: Special Edition adds nearly thirty minutes of footage originally cut from the theatrical release, offering Cameron’s definitive vision.
Tickets available at the box office or sagharborcinema.org
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ABOUT GALE ANNE HURD
Gale Anne Hurd’s producing feature credits include a number of Academy Award-nominated and winning films such as ALIENS, THE ABYSS, THE GHOST AND THE DARKNESS, ARMAGEDDON and TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY, which along with THE TERMINATOR that Hurd co-wrote, was added to the National Film Registry by the US Library of Congress. Her additional feature credits include TREMORS, ALIEN NATION, THE RELIC, THE INCREDIBLE HULK, the Watergate satire, DICK, and THE WATERDANCE, which won the Independent Spirit Screenplay and Best First Feature Awards, as well as the Audience and Screenplay Awards at the Sundance Film Festival. Additional credits on the film side include the feature film, HELLFEST, produced for Lionsgate, which is currently streaming on Netflix, and MANKILLER, that chronicles the extraordinary life of the late Wilma Mankiller, the first woman elected Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. Most recently Valhalla produced Tribeca Film Festival’s Spotlight Documentary THE YOUTUBE EFFECT, which shines a light on the spread of misinformation and the algorithms that manipulate public perception.
Hurd is also an Executive Producer of THE WALKING DEAD universe, which includes ratings juggernauts THE WALKING DEAD: DEAD CITY and THE WALKING DEAD: DARYL DIXON, as well as the record-setting miniseries THE WALKING DEAD: THE ONES WHO LIVE. Her Valhalla Entertainment banner produced all eleven seasons of the global cultural phenomenon THE WALKING DEAD, as well as the eight seasons of FEAR THE WALKING DEAD for AMC. She was an Executive Producer on THE WALKING DEAD: WORLD BEYOND, and a Consulting Producer on the TALKING DEAD series.
Additional Valhalla TV credits include Amazon Prime Video’s LORE, SYFY’s limited series HUNTERS, and two seasons of FALLING WATER on the USA Network.
Hurd was recently elected to the Academy Museum’s prestigious Board of Trustees alongside Guillermo Del Toro and John Gore. She is also the recipient of the ‘Woman In Fan’ Lifetime Achievement Award at the Sitges Film Festival, as well as the ‘Premio Raimondo Rezzonico (Best Producer)’ Award at the Locarno Film Festival.
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ABOUT THE FILM
THE ABYSS: SPECIAL EDITION
Directed by James Cameron
USA | 1989 | 171 mins | English
Followed by a Q&A with producer Gale Anne Hurd
After a U.S. nuclear submarine mysteriously sinks in the depths of the ocean, a civilian deep-sea drilling crew is recruited to assist a Navy SEAL recovery mission. As tensions mount beneath crushing pressure, estranged petroleum engineers Bud Brigman (Ed Harris) and Lindsey Brigman (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) must confront their fractured relationship while encountering an extraordinary alien aquatic species that challenges humanity’s understanding of the unknown. Adding almost 30 minutes of previously unseen footage to the original release version, the special edition finally reflects Cameron’s artistic vision.
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About the Sag Harbor Cinema
As a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) community-based organization, Sag Harbor Cinema is dedicated to presenting the past, present and future of the movies and to preserving and educating about films, filmmaking, and the film-going experience in its three state-of-the-art theaters. The Cinema engages its audiences and the community year-round through dialogue, discovery, and appreciation of the moving image – from blockbusters to student shorts and everything in between. Revitalized and reimagined through unprecedented community efforts to rebuild the iconic Main Street structure after a fire nearly destroyed it in 2016, SHC continues a long historic tradition of entertainment in the heart of Sag Harbor Village.