Morgan Freeman is left-handed, but to portray Nelson Mandela as accurately as possible, something which was very important to him, he trained himself to use his right hand when he was seen writing in this movie, because Mandela was right-handed.
The word "invictus" is Latin for "undefeated". It is also the name of a short poem written in 1875 by William Ernest Henley. The poem was written while Henley was in the hospital having a foot amputated. Nelson Mandela is heard saying lines from the poem.
The prison cell that the South African rugby team visited was the actual prison cell on Robben Island where Mandela stayed for eighteen years of his prison sentence.
Morgan Freeman, who had been a friend of Nelson Mandela for many years, prepared for his role as Mandela by watching some tapes of him to perfect his accent and rhythm of speaking. However, the most difficult part was Mandela's charisma, which could not be duplicated: "I wanted to avoid acting like him; I needed to be him, and that was the biggest challenge. When you meet Mandela, you know you are in the presence of greatness, but it is something that just emanates from him. He moves people for the better. That is his calling in life. Some call it the Madiba magic. I'm not sure that magic can be explained."
McNeil Hendricks: Nicknamed "Maccie", as Chester Williams, the Springboks' only black player. Hendricks was capped twice for South Africa in 1998, and has been a professional rugby player with Blue Bulls and Western Province.