Carla Gugino got waterlogged for nothing.

For an early version of the assassination thriller Snake Eyes which opened this weekend, Gugino filmed a scene in which her character almost drowns.

"I had to film the scene in a water tank on the Paramount lot in Los Angeles. I ended up getting a lot of water down my windpipe," recalls Gugino.

"I did the scene with Nicolas Cage's stunt double because Nick wasn't available the days we shot. I think he knew something I didn't."

After her ordeal, Gugino's enthusiasm was understandably dampened when she learned the scene is not in the movie.

"(Director) Brian De Palma decided the water sequence made Snake Eyes more of a disaster movie than a suspense thriller, so we reshot the ending of the film to exclude the tidal wave sequence altogether."

Gugino says she was surprised that Cage "is so mild-mannered, given the characters he has played on screen. Mind you, he can dig that edgy flamboyance out of himself so easily you know it must be part of him.

"It's a real blast watching him transform himself that way."


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