Pirkkanen, then a student at New York City's Actors Studio, was hired by director Ruggero Deodato who was looking for unknown actors to play the film's four main characters.
[citation needed] So realistic was the film that shortly after it was released, its director Ruggero Deodato was indicted for the actors' murder.
In the film, he was seen having his penis cut off, being decapitated, and having his body eaten by the natives next to his head.
The actors had signed contracts to stay out of the media for a year in order to fuel rumors that the film was a snuff movie.
The court was only convinced that they were alive when the contracts were cancelled and the actors appeared on a television show as proof.