Many substantial speaking roles were filled by Mayan people who had never acted before. Sick Girl, who curses the hunting party as they and the captives pass right before entering the city, was played by a seven-year-old who lived in a dirt-floored hut in a village similar to Jaguar Paw's.
Mel Gibson claimed that Rudy Youngblood was genuinely running from the jaguar, which was only kept from reaching him by a tether. Gibson added "You can't train a jaguar."
The man on the promotional poster for the film is not Jaguar Paw but one of his pursuers, Middle Eye, the vicious member of Zero Wolf's group who dubs Jaguar Paw "Almost".
During filming, severe flooding in Southern Mexico displaced at least 1 million people. The crew helped with flood relief.
(at around 35 mins) As a teenager, Mel Gibson was once called "almost" by an older boy, a deep insult. That inspired the line in which a headhunter calls Jaguar Paw "almost."
Mel Gibson: Gibson makes a brief, nearly hidden appearance in the Apocalypto trailer. Click the pause button when the screaming monkey appears, just after the pregnant woman, but before the solar eclipse, then use the left arrow (button) to step the video back, frame by frame, to the guys painted white. Step back another frame or two and you'll see Gibson, with a heavy beard, smoking a cigar.