To prepare one of the Runts (Caixa Baixa gang) for the scene in which he cries when Zé Pequeno shoots him in the foot, acting coach Fátima Toledo worked with the child (who had never acted before) and discovered his biggest fear was having a toothache. So, when the time came to shoot the scene, she told him to just remember his toothache, and when he was shot in the foot, to pretend his toothache pain had moved to his foot.