Secret of the Incas shot in Peru before. Wendell Corey was originally announced as star. In July 1953 Paramount took over Hal Wallis' contract with Charlton Heston and announced he would make the film after he finished "The Naked Jungle". "Secret of the Incas" was filmed on location in Peru at Cuzco and Machu Picchu, the first time that a major Hollywood studio filmed at this archeological site. A sixteen person unit including Heston, producer Mel Epstein and director Jerry Hopper spent a month filming footage in Peru in 1953. Five hundred indigenous people were used as extras in the film. The film also
Machu Picchu accompany a deceased noble in the afterlife. Animal, liquid and dirt sacrifices to the gods were much more common, made at the Altar of the Condor. The tradition is upheld by members of the New Age Andean religion. Machu Picchu lies in the southern hemisphere, 13.164 degrees south of the equator. It is northwest of Cusco, on the crest of the mountain Machu Picchu, located about above mean sea level, over lower than Cusco, which has an elevation of . As such, it had a milder climate than the Inca capital. It is one of the most important archaeological sites