DEADLINE.COM: CAST AND CREW DENOUNCE POST-PRODUCTION ALTERATIONS TO "DESERT WARRIOR" NOW "INNOCENCE OF MUSLIMS". DOES "SAM BACILE" REALLY EXISTS?....

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE

http://www.deadline.com/2012/09/latest-on-the-anti-muslim-filmmakers-that-sparked-mid-east-violence/

(...)– Purported writer, director and producer Sam Bacile has no credits on any movie industry database. SAG-AFTRA tells Deadline they have no information about the film and the DGA confirms they have no Sam Bacile on record.

– A man calling himself Bacile spoke by telephone from an undisclosed location with news outlets on Tuesday. He was alternately reported to be a 52-year-old Israeli-American real estate developer in California and a 56-year-old Israeli Jew.

– Records searches in the U.S. turned up nothing on a Sam Bacile, media outlets report and Yigal Palmor, spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry, told The New York Times, “He is totally unknown in filmmaking circles in Israel.”

– A casting notice for a film called Desert Warrior that ran in Backstage last year and which is believed to be the original advertisement for the film, lists the producer as “Sam Bassiel.” It also lists a director, Alan Roberts.

–The BBC says a film believed to be Innocence Of Muslims, but called The Innocence Of Bin Laden, screened at Hollywood’s Vine Theatre on June 30. An attendee said the film lasted an hour with just a few people there. He claimed the organizer was an Egyptian living in the U.S.

– The YouTube profile ‘Sam Bacile’ was used to post clips of the film on July 1 and posted comments as recently as Tuesday this week. It lists the age of the account holder at 74.

– Bacile said he raised $5M from about 100 Jewish donors to make the film.

–Steve Klein, a self-described militant Christian activist in Riverside, Calif., told CNN he worked with Bacile on the movie and said the filmmaker had gone into hiding. But he told The Atlantic on Wednesday that Bacile is a pseudonym.

(...)–A man identified as Nakoula Basseley Nakoula told the AP that he was manager for the company that produced the movie and said he knew Bacile. But the cell phone number the AP had for Bacile traced back to the address where the wire agency inteviewed Nakoula.

CNN received a statement from the 80 or so people in front of and behind the cameras denouncing the film they say they worked on without knowing it was propaganda. The statement reads:

“The entire cast and crew are extremely upset and feel taken advantage of by the producer. 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.”

Cindy Lee Garcia, an actress who appears in clips of the film on YouTube, told Reuters she answered a casting call last year for Desert Warrior. She said shooting took place inside a church near L.A. in the summer of 2011. About 50 actors were involved, she told Reuters. Garcia said her character was forced to give away her child to a character named Master George, who is listed in the casting call. But in scenes from the trailer, Garcia’s lines appear dubbed over with another voice referring to Mohammad rather than George.

READ MORE
http://www.deadline.com/2012/09/latest-on-the-anti-muslim-filmmakers-that-sparked-mid-east-violence/

THE WRAP: L.A. AREA COPTIC CHRISTIAN TIED TO THE FILM "INNOCENCE OF THE MUSLIMS" THAT SPARKED RIOTS IN LIBYA AND EGYPT AND FOUR DEATHS

http://www.thewrap.com/media/article/youtube-pulls-innocence-muslims-trailer-libya-egypt-56156
UPDATE: Doubts are being raised about what role, if any, the film has played in the chaos in Libya and Egypt.... Steve Klein, a Riverside, Calif.-based Christian activist who was a consultant on the film, told the Atlantic that Sam Bacile is a pseudonym. Other biographical details about Bacile appear to be collapsing as well and there is a scant digital trail for the alleged writer and director...The trailer was first uploaded to YouTube on July 2...

http://www.thewrap.com/movies/article/hunt-innocence-muslims-filmmaker-gamers-mourn-victim-libya-attack-56226

By Alexander C. Kaufman

• U.S. Ambassador to Libya Killed as Attacks Intensify Over Anti-Muslim Film Sep 12, 2012

A Coptic Christian man from outside Los Angeles reportedly acknowledged Wednesday his role in producing the incendiary, anti-Islam film that sparked riots in Libya and Egypt.

Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, 55, told the Associated Press that he managed the company that produced the movie, "Innocence of Muslims."

The film, which has since been removed from YouTube in Egypt and Libya, mocks the Muslims' beliefs and incited mob protests in Cairo and Benghazi, where the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other State Department officials were killed.

Also read: U.S. Ambassador to Libya Killed as Attacks Intensify Over Anti-Muslim Film

Nakoula identified himself with a driver's license, but covered his middle name with his thumb when an AP reporter inspected the document. He said he did not direct the film, but knew the purported director Sam Bacile.  A YouTube account under that name posted the video.

Copts are a Christian sect who comprise a minority of the population in Egypt.

However, a cellphone number used to contact the filmmaker who described himself as Sam Bacile traced back to the address where the AP found Nakoula.

Nakoula, a Coptic Christian, said the film's director cared about Muslim treatment of Copts. He denied that he posed as Bacile.

Steve Klein, a Christian activist involved in the project, told the AP on Wednesday that Bacile was a pseudonym for the director.

The filmmaker is now reportedly in hiding, particularly after Klein warned him that he may become the next Theo Van Gogh, the provocative Dutch commentator who was murdered by an Islamic extremist after releasing a film that Muslims found offensive. 

Also read: American-Made Trailer Triggers Virulent Anti-U.S. Protest in Egypt, Libya

But as the filmmaker ties to prevent potential death, the online gaming community was mourning the loss of a foreign service information management officer, Sean Smith -- known to many in the virtual world as "Vile Rat" -- who was killed alongside the American ambassador in Libya, according to the AP.

The 34-year-old was a well-known gamer on "EVE Online," a game comprised of 400,000 players driving ships, buying and selling virtual goods and engaging in corporate spying and voting in a government comprised of real-life players.

Alex Gianturco, who goes by the avatar name "The Mittani," served as the leader of the "EVE" gaming guild "Goon Swarm," and was instant messaging Smith when the attack occurred.

He messaged an expletive before writing "GUNFIRE" and disconnecting.

Before joining the mission in Benghazi, Smith served around the world -- from Brussels to Canada to Iraq. Prior to that, he was a member of the Air Force.

A decade-long veteran of the foreign service, he is survived by his wife, Heather, and two children, Samantha and Nathan.