Casting was tricky; as one of your commenters remarked, you can't really tell unless you get the actors in and have them read for the part.

The disclaimer is worrying if you believe the theory that if there's a daft disclaimer, it's because somebody at some time tried to do what the disclaimer warns against. I suspect that in this case, time-travelling Ricardians may be involved.

And, well, why bother making backstory up when you can just pinch it from reality?