FILM · 2006
Turistas
22 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
22 Interesting Facts About Turistas
Interesting Facts (19)
- #001
In one underwater scene, Olivia Wilde's Bea is seen panicking as she searches for an air pocket, and the panic was real: Wilde had missed her mark and couldn't find it, and since it was a wide shot, the safety divers were too far away to reach her. She found the air pocket in the end.
- #002
Melissa George learned Portuguese to play Pru.
- #003
A real surgeon carried out the organ removal on screen.
- #004
Beau Garrett said in an interview that her parents would never watch the film because her gruesome death scene was so realistic, joking that her father wouldn't want to see her topless either.
- #005
Everyone in the passport photos in the opening montage works for the film company 2929.
- #006
In the UK and Ireland, it was released as Paradise Lost.
- #007
In the original draft, Melissa George's Pru died.
- #008
John Stockwell spotted Olga Diegues, who ended up in the cast, at a juice stand in Rio.
- #009
Turistas was the first American film shot entirely in Brazil.
- #010
The blood in the film was strawberry jam/jelly.
- #011
For the organ removal scene, Beau Garrett needed a body cast, which took seven hours to make, and then spent another twelve hours lying motionless on the operating table while the scene was shot.
- #012
Braiding her hair was Melissa George's own idea.
- #013
An earlier draft set the story in Guatemala.
- #014
Holly Marie Combs was originally cast as Pru.
- #015
When Pru reads the names on the medicine bottles in the house, one of them is Gustav Roth, the actor who plays Svend.
- #016
In June 2006, 20th Century Fox reportedly picked up Turistas for North American release through Fox Atomic, its new genre label, making it the label's first release; it opened in the US on 1 December 2006.
- #017
Turistas was Beau Garrett's first feature. She had worked with John Stockwell on a TV series before, and he approached her about the part.
- #018
Olivia Wilde said shooting in Brazil was very physical and pretty tough, but luckily her only injury was a Texas-sized bruise on her backside.
- #019
Director John Stockwell didn't meet Max Brown in person until the actor arrived in Rio.
Behind the Scenes (1)
- #020
The bus crash was done in one continuous shot.
Characters & Cast (1)
- #021
The extras in the football game were local Brazilian kids, and in fact many Brazilian locals were cast as extras throughout the film.
Deeper Meaning (1)
- #022
The film caused a major uproar in Brazil for portraying the country as violent and leaning on clichés and stereotypes about Brazilians. Many people on social media and in the press called for a boycott, and tourism groups joined in, fearing it would scare people off visiting Brazil.
Sources & editorial notes
Reference databases
- IMDb
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