Francisco Frias was originally going to play Naruto Uzamaki ( now plays Jirobo). Alexis Myers was originally going to play Ino Yamanaka (now plays Tayuya). And Austin Landon was originally going to play Kankuro (but is now playing Shikamaru Nara).
The main antagonist was originally going to be Zabuza Momochi with his side kick Haku but Brian (McLelland) felt that the film which was also supposed to be under an hour would flop and be a basic repeat of Dragonball: Evolution. He decided to expand the script and make the main antagonist Orochimaru he describes what was originally going to be the movie as the "opening act".
Dillon Blestrued (Naruto Uzamaki) has natural black hair while Brian McLelland (Sasuke Uchiha) is a natural blonde
Brian McLelland compared the plot of this film to the turning into adulthood "(laughs) well this film is like the transition from being a child, a teenager into an adult. It's all fun and games. Naruto and his team (Sasuke and Sakura) don't take the missions and the chunnin exam super seriously. Just like every teenager they think nothing bad could happen. So the first half of the film is more light hearted, but that all changes as Orochimaru's begins his attack upon Konoha. After that point there are some dark dark scenes that I'm actually really proud of after writing. You'll sense the change of emotion at this point it's not longer fun, it became real. Now of course there will still be some light hearted scenes because Naruto goes off to train with Jiraiya but other than that its kinda dark the rest of the way through. I guess you could say, play time is over."
Brian McLelland has been planning to make this film for over 8 years but due to problems with the script and budgeting he was never able to complete or start filming. He planned to release it first in 2009 then delayed it to 2010 and then again to 2011 then 2012 he then decided to delay it to 2015, but this time due to casting and financial reasons he delayed it one more year , he hopes to release it by Christmas of 2016 but no release date or even release year is set for obvious reasons.