In The Abyss, Virgil Brigman's nickname is Bud. Played by Ed Harris, Bud is the foreman of the Deep Core underwater drilling platform and the estranged husband of the rig's designer, Lindsey Brigman.
The nickname appears throughout the film because the characters generally call him Bud rather than Virgil. When a damaged submarine and a dangerous storm threaten the platform, Bud becomes responsible for helping the crew survive while also confronting the increasingly unstable Navy SEAL commander Hiram Coffey.
Bud's most demanding mission comes after a nuclear warhead is sent into the deep trench. Wearing an experimental diving suit with a liquid-breathing system, he descends more than two miles to disarm it. The journey becomes both a physical ordeal and an emotional test of his relationship with Lindsey.
The film's production was famously difficult because much of it was shot around large underwater sets. Its science-fiction story introduces non-terrestrial intelligences, often called NTIs, whose presence turns a military crisis into a first-contact story.