Mystery of anti-Islam filmmaker

Thursday, September 13, 2012 - 11:01 AM

The provocative anti-Muslim film implicated in mob protests in Egypt, Libya and Yemen received logistical help from a man once convicted of financial crimes and featured actors who complained that their inflammatory dialogue was dubbed in after filming.

The self-proclaimed director of Innocence of Muslims initially claimed a Jewish and Israeli background and said he had gone into hiding because of the international controversy set off by the film.

But others involved in the film said his statements about his background were contrived, and evidence mounted that the film’s key player was a southern Californian Coptic Christian with a chequered past.

Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, 55, told The Associated Press he managed logistics for the company that produced Innocence of Muslims, which mocked Muslims and the prophet Mohammed and may have inflamed mobs that attacked US missions.

Mr Nakoula denied he had directed the film, though he said he knew the self-described filmmaker, Sam Bacile, and denied posing as him.

He said he is a Coptic Christian and supported the concerns of Christian Copts about their treatment by Muslims.

Federal court papers filed in a 2010 criminal prosecution against him said Mr Nakoula had used numerous aliases in the past. Among the fake names, the documents said, were Nicola Bacily and Erwin Salameh.

The AP located Mr Bacile after obtaining his mobile phone number from Morris Sadek, a conservative Coptic Christian in the US who had promoted the anti-Muslim film in recent days on his website.

Pastor Terry Jones of Gainesville, Florida, who sparked outrage in the Arab world when he burned Korans on the ninth anniversary of 9/11, said he spoke with the film’s director on the phone yesterday and prayed for him.

Mr Jones said he has not met the filmmaker in person, but added that the man contacted him a few weeks ago about promoting the film. Mr Jones and others who have dealt with the filmmaker said Mr Bacile was hiding his real identity.

“I have not met him. Sam Bacile, that is not his real name,” Mr Jones said. “I just talked to him on the phone. He is definitely in hiding and does not reveal his identity. He was quite honestly fairly shook up concerning the events and what is happening. A lot of people are not supporting him. He was generally a little shook up concerning this situation.”

The Youtube account, Sam Bacile, which was used to publish excerpts of the provocative film in July, was used to post comments online as recently as Tuesday, including this defence of the film written in Arabic: “It is a 100 % American movie, you cows.”

Mr Nakoula pleaded no contest in 2010 to federal bank fraud charges in California and was ordered to pay more than 790,000 dollars in restitution. He was also sentenced to 21 months in federal prison and ordered not to use computers or the internet for five years without approval from his probation officer.

American actors and actresses who appeared in Innocence of Muslims issued a joint statement saying they were misled about the project and alleged that some of their dialogue was crudely dubbed during post-production.

In the English-language version of the trailer, direct references to Mohammed appear to be the result of post-production changes to the film. Either actors aren’t seen when the name “Mohammed” is spoken in the overdubbed sound, or they appear to be mouthing something else as the name of the prophet is spoken.

“The entire cast and crew are extremely upset and feel taken advantage of by the producer,” said the statement, obtained by the Los Angeles Times. “We are 100 % not behind this film and were grossly misled about its intent and purpose. We are shocked by the drastic rewrites of the script and lies that were told to all involved. We are deeply saddened by the tragedies that have occurred.”

One of the actresses, Cindy Lee Garcia, told the Gawker.com website that the film was originally titled Desert Warriors and said the script did not contain offensive references to Islam. She said the director, who identified himself as Mr Bacile, told her then that he was Egyptian.

The person who identified himself as Bacile and described himself as the film’s writer and director told the AP on Tuesday that he had gone into hiding. But doubts rose about the man’s identity amid a flurry of false claims about his background and role in the purported film.

Mr Bacile told the AP he was an Israeli-born, 56-year-old, Jewish writer and director. But a Christian activist involved in the film project, Steve Klein, told the AP yesterday that Mr Bacile was a pseudonym and that he was Christian.

Mr Klein had told the AP on Tuesday that the filmmaker was an Israeli Jew who was concerned for family members who live in Egypt.

Officials in Israel said there was no record of Bacile as an Israeli citizen.

The Southern Poverty Law Centre, which monitors hate groups, said Mr Klein is a former Marine and longtime religious-right activist who has helped train paramilitary militias at a California church. It described Mr Klein as founder of Courageous Christians United, which conducts protests outside abortion clinics, Mormon temples and mosques.

In his brief interview with the AP, Mr Bacile called Islam a cancer and said he intended the film to be a provocative political statement condemning the religion.

But several key facts Mr Bacile provided proved false or questionable. He told the AP he was 56 but identified himself on his YouTube profile as 74. He said he is a property developer, but Bacile does not appear in searches of California state licences.

Hollywood and California film industry groups and permit agencies said they had no records of the project under the name Innocence of Muslims, but a Los Angeles film permit agency later found a record of a film filmed in Los Angeles last year under the working title Desert Warriors.

A man who answered a phone listed for the Vine Theater, a faded Hollywood movie house, confirmed that the film had run for a least a day, and possibly longer, several months ago, arranged by a customer known as Sam.

Google, which owns YouTube, pulled down the video yesterday in Egypt, citing a legal complaint. It was still accessible in the US and other countries.Home