Cast members originally said to be attached to the film included David Wenham, Don Hany, Sam Neill, and Bryan Brown: (according to an article in the Sydney Morning Herald, 'Wenham would play the journalist C.E.W. Bean, with Brown as Major-General William Bridges, who commanded the 1st Australian Division at Gallipoli, Neill as the field hospital's Captain Buchanan and Hany as the Turkish commander Ataturk' ('Star cast drawn to enduring tale of Simpson and his donkey', 22 October 2012).
