Julien Schoenaerts (Bishop Stillemans) and Matthias Schoenaerts (Wannes Scholliers), are father and son in real life, but didn't share scenes in the film.
Although the novel "Pieter Daens" by Louis Paul Boon is understandably centered around Pieter Daens, the publicist, this movie adaptation is told from the perspective of his brother Adolf Daens (Jan Decleir), with limited screentime for Pieter (Wim Meuwissen).
All of the major characters in the movie (like the Daens brothers, Mr Woeste, Bishop Stillemans, King Leopold and major Vanwambeke) have existed in real life, and feature in the book 'Pieter Daens' as well. Notable exceptions are Nette Scholiers (Antje de Boeck) and Jan De Meeter (Michael Pas), who were invented for the movie.