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 mountain. However, it has been found that the terrace farming area makes up only about 12 acres of land, and a study of the soil around the terraces showed that what was grown there was mostly corn and potatoes, which was not enough to support the 750+ people living at Machu Picchu. Therefore, when studies were done on the food that the Incas ate at Machu Picchu, it was found that much of what they ate was imported to the area from the surrounding valleys and farther. Although it was located only about from the Inca capital in Cusco, the