For the South African release, the producers decided to dub Peter Paul Muller's (Bram Fischer) voice, as the they felt that his Dutch accent was too strong for the South African audience. His voice was dubbed by well known Afrikaans actor and director Andre Odendaal.
After several movies where Nelson Mandela was played by British and American actors, director Jean van de Velde was adamant to have the role played by a South-African actor. This turned out to be the most difficult role to cast, because many South-African actors felt uncomfortable portraying such an iconic character. About eight actors auditioned, most of whom were turned down for being too old, too short or too expensive. Sello Motloung was finally chosen a few months before the start of production because he had the right age, build and demeanor to portray the 1960s Mandela (who was an amateur boxer and a fierce activist). Also important was that Motloung spoke Xhosa, Mandela's native language, even though it meant that he had to practice with a language coach to improve his English.
Actor Tumisho Masha was one of the two final candidates for playing Nelson Mandela (he had already played Mandela in Mandela's Gun (2016)), but his fee was too high (almost four times the film's budget, according to director Jean van de Velde), so Sello Motloung was chosen. Van de Velde later learned that had made the right choice, when Masha was arrested for domestic abuse, a controversy that would have undoubtedly hurt the movie.
Was filmed in the actual court room at the Palace of Justice in Pretoria where Nelson Mandela was sentenced.