Quiz

The main characters represent actual persons: Han van Meegeren, Joseph Piller, Johanna Oerlemans, Dirk Hannema. However the movie frequently diverges from historical facts:

• The most important gap is the trial: actually, Van Meegeren painted the Vermeer-style frame ("Jesus among the Doctors") for the trial, in the presence of court-appointed witnesses. He thus demonstrated the other alleged Vermeers were also fake and was charged with forgery and fraud, a much lesser offense than collaboration with the enemy. He was hence never sentenced to death, just to one year imprisonment.
• Joseph Piller arrested van Meegeren but did not act as his attorney.
• Van Meegeren was jailed in May 1945, released in Jan. or Feb. 1946 (after finishing the above-mentioned painting) and stood trial in Oct. and Nov. 1947. He was not detained in the attic of Goudstikker art gallery but mainly in the nearby HQ of Military Command.
• He did not sign his book for Hitler. However, according to the book the movie is partly based on, van Meegeren was a fascist sympathizer and did send an admiring note to Hitler in 1942.
• There are many exaggerations about characters and situations, notably Piller's and Dekker's methods as well as the feud between the Military and the Ministry of Justice.

Piller's children strongly objected to the way their mother was portrayed in this movie, as this did not match the facts at all. In reality, she actively participated in all kinds of resistance activities and most certainly was no Mata Hari seducing the enemy. They also criticized the way the story of the unmasking of Vermeer forger Han van Meegeren was told in the film. It went differently than the film tells us. Their father figured out himself how to prove that Van Meegeren was an art forger.

Second time Guy Pearce plays a Dutchman. First time was in thriller/western Brimstone (2016), which was directed by Dutchman Martin Koolhoven, who taught him the Dutch accent.

This is the first feature film to use ARRI's new 4K digital camera, Alexa LF. Using Cooke 7i primes and Alura zooms, the film was shot in LF Open Gate for a 1.85:1 4K result.

Guy Pearce was in attendance at the 2019 Telluride Film Festival representing this film. Eye witness accounts claim he had on a hat and sunglasses only hours before the premiere screening so as not to be identified, and was both present and in more fitting attire when the first showing began.