Most the Jungle scenes were shot only thirty minutes outside of Panama City in a closed abandoned air force base.

Filming in the jungle took place during the rainy season of August where you could count on it raining at least three hours out of the day.

The cast and crew actually shot in a region of the Darién Gap about five hours south of Panama City. At that location they were able to shoot all the village footage and a town that was located right at the end of the Pan American Highway. To shoot at these locations the cast and crew had to spend the night in the town of Torti. The only hotel in that town had just enough rooms to house them all. No rooms had air conditioning, fans, or private bathrooms. Everyone had to share the bathrooms and showers that were located in the middle of the hotel. You would have to wait in line in order to use both.

Shooting in the jungle proved to be a bigger challenge than initially thought. The filmmakers welcomed the possibility of down pours and harsh conditions while filming. The first day of shooting in the jungle went very smoothly and they were able to work in the rainy conditions. Then on the third, fourth, and fifth days of shooting in the jungle, the environment decided to turn on the filmmakers. A hurricane was wreaking havoc off of the Mayan peninsula giving Panama triple the rainfall the area was used to and causing impossible conditions to shoot in. Writers LaBelle and Whelan knew they were in trouble when while standing at video village they witnessed a mud river form right in front of them and they watched a couple c-stands and a Panamanian crew member being swept away in the river of mud.

For those three days in the jungle, shooting came to a virtual halt, and instead of shooting three and a half pages a day as was planned, the production company only managed to film three-eighths of a page a day. Of course, on the crew’s day off it never rained a single drop and was completely sunny.

Brooke Burns was always the first cast member to jump in the mud and get dirty. The first AD would tell the actors to get muddy right before the scene and before any actor could get up from their chair, Burns would run and do a slip and slide in the mud to get ready for the scene.

The Salar de Uyuni was chosen as the final destination for Conner to visit. The location was picked because the Director’s mother was born in Bolivia. Anytime Whelan visited there, he would ask fellow travelers which part of Bolivia was their favorite place to visit–and the Salar was consistently the place that struck travelers the most while traveling through the country.

Salar de Uyuni, the Uyuni Salt Flats, encompasses an area of about 12,000 square kilometers at the southwestern portion of the Altiplano. At 3653 meters above sea level, the weather is always cold and dry. The Salar was once part of a prehistoric lake, Lago Minchín, which covered most of the area.

Just two hours before the crew was to board a bus that would take them from La Paz to the town of Uyuni (a town just outside of the salt flats), the Director of Photography became extremely ill. This when the cast and crew were about to embark on a journey that would take eleven hours on a bus, half the distance on a dirt road, driving over the Altiplano at points reaching 15,800 feet, and reaching temperatures of down to 2 degrees Fahrenheit. The producers decided that it was in the DP’s best interest to stay back in La Paz and recuperate. The 1st AC then had to step up to the job of DP and had to shoot the last three minutes of the film using notes that was given to her from her sick comrade back in La Paz.

There are no geysers located in the Salar de Uyuni. The geyser was created in order to give Conner a reason why he had a short amount of time to make the trip and witness the event.

Writer/Producer Brian LaBelle celebrated his 33rd Birthday while filming in Panama City.

Thomas Whelan and Brian LaBelle had worked on the TV show Malcolm in the Middle and met actor Christopher Kennedy Masterson while working there.

During the final wrap party for Malcolm in the Middle, Whelan walked out of Sound Stage 21 in CBS Radford and ran into Chris Masterson talking to party goers. Whelan walked up to him and told him that his agents would be receiving a script in a couple days that would be the perfect role for him to play.

When Jake Muxsworthy interviewed with the Producers regarding the role of “Two Dogs,” he was asked why he thought he was perfect for the role. He looked at the producers and said, “Well, I just happened to have brought my resume.” He pulled out his passport, filled with visa stamps from countries all over the world. The Producers knew right then and there they had found their “Two Dogs”.

Shalim Ortiz treated the cast & crew on the last day of shooting to singing one of his hit songs on the bus ride back from the jungle location to the hotel where the cast was staying. Everyone on the bus was amazed to learn that his singing live was just as good as listening to his song on DVD.

Only two actors consistently battled the wildlife elements while shooting in the jungle. Johnny Messner was bitten by a spider on his left hand during filming that when the medic on the set looked it over rushed him to the hospital just to be sure it wasn’t poisonous. Johnny never asked to be taken to the hospital and didn’t seem bothered by a spider bite that swelled to the size of a golf ball.

James Duval always battled fire ants that would fall from the jungle trees above the set. Right before a take he would be slapping parts of his body trying to protect himself. When “action” was called he performed his scene without ever giving any indication that we was being attacked. Then when the director called “cut” he would start slapping his body trying to get rid of the ants crawling all over him.