Kristen Stewart and the ‘Underwater’ Cast Lament Their 100-Pound Suits in This Exclusive Behind-the-Scenes Clip

While you’re watching Underwater on demand this week—which you can now do, because Underwater was released on digital, Blu-ray and DVD today—be sure to appreciate the fact that the cast members were doing their jobs with a roughly 100-pound handicap. In fact, in Decider’s exclusive Underwater behind-the-scenes clip, which you can watch above, the cast agrees that working in those suits proved to be one of the hardest endeavors of their careers.

Underwater, which opened in theaters in January, is an action-packed sci-fi thriller starring Kristen Stewart, Vincent Cassel, TJ Miller, John Gallagher Jr., and Jessica Henwick as a group of scientists who venture to the bottom of the ocean. (You know, for science reasons.) Unfortunately, when an earthquake destroys their lab, they are left stranded—wait for it—underwater. It stands to reason then that these ocean scientists would need to spend a lot of time in diving suits in order to survive. Unfortunately, wearing those suits was a massive pain in the butt for the cast.

In the making-of featurette from the special features, Underwater director William Eubank admitted the suits were “the greatest challenge on this film that we didn’t expect.” They were, he said, roughly 100 pounds each, and the actors used them without cables, meaning they had no help when it came to lifting that weight.

Stewart, who starred in the film as an engineer named Norah Price, reveals she would be forced to “tap out” when the weight became too much—but even then, that still meant she had to wear the suit for another 30 minutes or so.

“[It’s] a hundred-pound suit that takes like 20 minutes to get out of, once you decide you can’t take it anymore,” Stewart explains in the clip. “You’re like, ‘I’m tapping out!’ Thirty minutes later, you’re actually walking around again.”

Jessica Henwick, who plays a biologist named Emily Haversham, calls it “the hardest shoot” of her career.  “I weigh 125 pounds, and the suit weighs 83, 85,” Henwick says. “An average film day is 12 to 13 hours. This is the hardest shoot I will ever do in my life.”

To be fair to his cast, Eubank spent part of a day directing in one of the suits, too. “I just had sweat dripping down my face,” he says.

Underwater is now available on digital, DVD, and Blu-ray today, and is available to buy right now on digital on platforms like Amazon Prime, iTunes, Google Play and more. Along with behind-the-scenes moments like the above clip, you’ll also get bonus content that includes feature commentary, deleted scenes, and an entire Underwater alternate ending, with commentary. Now that’s what I call special features.

Where to watch Underwater