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 was featured prominently in the film "The Motorcycle Diaries" (2004), a biopic based on the 1952 youthful travel memoir of Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara. The "NOVA" television documentary "Ghosts of Machu Picchu" presents an elaborate documentary on the mysteries of Machu Picchu. Contemporary multimedia artist Kimsooja used Macchu Picchu as the primary setting for the first episode of her film series "Thread Routes", shot in 2010. The song "Kilimanjaro", from the South Indian Tamil film "Enthiran" (2010), was filmed in Machu Picchu. The sanction for filming was granted only after direct intervention from the Indian government. Machu Picchu is visitable