All the amateur actors in the film come from the slums of Rio de Janeiro.
In the film, after Knockout Ned killed for the first time, everyone living in the City of God approached him and congratulated him on his successful killing. One of the first women to walk towards him was the mother of Knockout Ned actor Seu Jorge.
The film’s director Fernando Merrills once said in an interview about the dangers of filming the film, if he knew that filming in Rio de Janeiro’s slums would be so dangerous, he would not decide to take it. piece.
Director Fernando Merrills revealed that the audience saw the scenes of Alicate, Cabeleira and Marreco through the bumper of the gas tanker, which was actually a tribute to the TV series "Charlie's Angels" aired in 1976.
In order to create the tension between Dadinho and Marreco in the film, the performance director asked Marreco's actor to bully Dadinho's actor for 15 days. In the film, when Marreco slapped Dadinho, Dadinho began to cry with resentment and anger, and these are the results of the 15 days of training.
In the film, when Buscape's brother Marreco was slapped by their father, Buscape began to laugh at Marreco. Many of the dialogue in this scene was improvised by actors and did not appear in the script.
In the film, the prayer before the gang commits the crime is not the original intention of the script, but one of the amateur actors has actually participated in the crime gang before. He told the director that if you don't pray, you can't face your opponent. Out of consideration of authenticity, the director followed the actor's suggestion and added the prayer ceremony to the film.
In the scene of the battle for drugs in the film, a former Oscar winner produced this effect with a lot of corpses stacked together.
In a set of scenes in the newsroom, many film crew members appeared one after another, including the art director Tule Peak, who played the older man who smiled at Buscape.
In the film, Buscape mentioned to Marina that they had never taken a hot bath. This sentence did not appear in the script, but was told by a child who had lived in the slums of Rio de Janeiro when the crew members were taking a break during filming. For the sake of authenticity, the actor quoted it during the performance.
In the first shot at the end of the film, the little boy dropped his slippers and then turned around to pick it up. This was not in the script, but a small mistake made by the little boy in the filming process. In order to express the boy's sense of presence, the director did not stop the camera, but captured the boy's real reaction after dropping his slippers.
The actor Leandro Firmino really came from a slum, and he had no intention of becoming an actor. He went to the audition, just hoping that the company that could help his friend could continue.
In English subtitles, Mane Galinha was translated into "Knockout Ned". But according to Portuguese, Mane Galinha means "Chicken Manuel" in English. His name is "Manuel", but because he has stolen chickens before, he jokingly calls him "Manuel". But in American culture, "Chicken" implies "cowardly and cowardly", which is inconsistent with Mane's character. Therefore, when translated into English subtitles, the dark meaning of "chicken" was removed, and "Knockout Ned" was created, which means "charming and handsome Ned".
The film did not choose to start and shoot in the famous slum Cidade de Deus in Rio de Janeiro because it was too messy. But in order to ensure the authenticity of the atmosphere and environment, they chose to start the machine in a relatively less dangerous slum adjacent to Cidade de Deus.
The director initially planned to use people who have no experience in acting as the lead, or find some actors who have outstanding acting skills but are not well known by the audience. Just like the male number one Matheus Nachtergaele. The director had seen his performance in an unknown movie, and he was quite sure that he planned to invite him to act.
The role of Buscape in the film is based on Paulo Lins, the author of the novel of the same name in the film.
In the film, a series of shots of the motel were not cleared during the filming process. After shooting the robbery scenes of Marreco, Cabeleira and Alicate, many customers complained to the manager. They heard gunshots from other rooms.
On the first day of filming, the underworld boss suddenly thought that the lawless script was too violent and emphasized the content of drug dealings, which might give teenagers bad examples and threatening voices prohibiting filming.
Almost all the young actors in the film come from the slums around Rio de Janeiro. Directors Merillas and Katilla spent six months with these children. The film gave the audience a certain understanding of the social roots of Brazil's chaotic situation.
