[h=3]By DION NISSENBAUM And ERICA ORDEN[/h]For more than two months, the "Muhammad Movie Trailer," an amateurish video assault on the founder of Islam, remained one of millions of obscure clips posted on YouTube.
Today, fueled by the Internet and the roiling stew of the Arab Spring, the 14-minute video has been blamed for helping to spur attacks on U.S. diplomats and missions in Egypt and Libya, sparking a crisis that has ricocheted around the world.
Much remains unknown about the clip, and about the man who has represented himself as its creator.
In a telephone interview with The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, a man identifying himself as a 52-year-old real-estate developer in California, Sam Bacile, said he had made the film. Saying he was an Israeli-American who had created the film with the backing of Jewish donors, he described Islam as a "cancer." One of the video clip's promoters provided the name and contact details for a Sam Bacile, a name that matched the one on the account used to post the clip in July to Google Inc.'s YouTube.
Since that article was published, questions have emerged about the identity of the purported filmmaker. The Journal was unable to reach the man calling himself Mr. Bacile for further comment and as of Wednesday, the telephone number had been disconnected.
A records search turned up no references to any men in the U.S. by the name Sam Bacile. Israeli officials in the U.S. and Israel said they haven't found any records of an Israeli by the name of Bacile.
That cast doubt on several of the claims made, including that the clip was a trailer for a longer movie, and that it was funded—in an allegation likely to further inflame Muslims who had taken offense with it—with $5 million collected from Jewish donors.
The low-budget footage includes rough voiceovers and campy scenes that depict the Prophet Muhammad as a womanizing fraud and child molester. The clip's defamatory references to Islam and Muhammad were dubbed in after filming, suggesting the participants might not have been aware of the production's actual intent.
People who characterized themselves as cast and crew members said the film's producer took advantage of them. "We are 100% not behind this film and were grossly misled about its intent and purpose," crew members said in a statement to CNN. "We are shocked by the drastic re-writes of the script and lies that were told to all involved. We are deeply saddened by the tragedies that have occurred."
An expired casting notice posted on the Backstage.com database sought actors for a "historical Arabian Desert adventure film," called "Desert Warrior," naming the producer as "Sam Bassiel." The notice sought men and women to play characters including the lead roles of Dr. Matthew, a Middle Eastern "modern day pharmacist," and George, "a strong leader, romantic, tyrant, a killer with no remorse, accent."
The posting listed two characters as Condalisa and Hilary, evoking the names of the two most recent U.S. secretaries of state.
For its low-budget feel and mysterious provenance, the film has sparked real waves across the world.
The spark that elevated the video from the Internet's backwater appears to have been provided by Morris Sadek, an Egyptian Coptic activist living in the Washington, D.C., area. Mr. Sadek has been an outspoken anti-Islamic activist in the U.S., where he runs a small group called the National American Coptic Assembly.
On Sept. 6, Mr. Sadek sent an email to journalists around the world promoting a Sept. 11 event held by Rev. Terry Jones, the Florida pastor who previously sparked deadly protests by burning a copy of the Quran.
In the email, Mr. Sadek included a link to the 14-minute YouTube clip, calling it "Innocence of Muslims." The man identifying himself as Sam Bacile, in Tuesday's interview, said the clip was a trailer for a full-length film of the same name.
In Egypt, journalists translated some of the footage into Arabic and broadcast it on national television. Several popular preachers on conservative Islamic satellite channels such as Al Rahma and Al Hafez urged people to turn out Tuesday at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, protesters there said.
Mr. Sadek, who features a photograph of himself with Mr. Jones on his website, didn't answer his phone Wednesday. On Tuesday, before news that four Americans had been killed, including the U.S. ambassador, Mr. Sadek had described the events in Cairo as vindication of the movie's message.
"The violence that it caused in Egypt is further evidence of how violent the region and people are and it is more evidence that everything in the film is factual," Mr. Sadek said.
In his interview on Tuesday, the purported filmmaker said the film was inspired in part by 1999 sectarian clashes in Al Kosheh, a predominantly Coptic Christian town in southern Egypt. A dispute between a Christian shoe-store owner and a Muslim customer led to three days of rioting that left 21 people, all but one a Christian, dead.
"Islam is the reason for the terrorism today," he said in the telephone interview.
In the interview, the filmmaker said Mr. Jones invited him to show the full film at a Sept. 11 event at his Florida church. The filmmaker said he was too busy to attend and that Mr. Jones decided not to show the film.
On Tuesday, as the furor over the footage grew, the filmmaker said Mr. Jones called him back and asked for permission to show the 14-minute version. Church officials said Wednesday technical glitches hampered their efforts.
According to YouTube, the original posting by "Sam Bacile" had been viewed more than 220,000 times as of Wednesday, with the top views coming from Egypt, Tunisia and Canada. The footage generated nearly 5,000 "likes" and more than 13,000 "dislikes."
—Matt Bradley and James Oberman contributed to this article.Write to Dion Nissenbaum at [email protected]
Today, fueled by the Internet and the roiling stew of the Arab Spring, the 14-minute video has been blamed for helping to spur attacks on U.S. diplomats and missions in Egypt and Libya, sparking a crisis that has ricocheted around the world.
Much remains unknown about the clip, and about the man who has represented himself as its creator.
In a telephone interview with The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, a man identifying himself as a 52-year-old real-estate developer in California, Sam Bacile, said he had made the film. Saying he was an Israeli-American who had created the film with the backing of Jewish donors, he described Islam as a "cancer." One of the video clip's promoters provided the name and contact details for a Sam Bacile, a name that matched the one on the account used to post the clip in July to Google Inc.'s YouTube.
Since that article was published, questions have emerged about the identity of the purported filmmaker. The Journal was unable to reach the man calling himself Mr. Bacile for further comment and as of Wednesday, the telephone number had been disconnected.
A records search turned up no references to any men in the U.S. by the name Sam Bacile. Israeli officials in the U.S. and Israel said they haven't found any records of an Israeli by the name of Bacile.
That cast doubt on several of the claims made, including that the clip was a trailer for a longer movie, and that it was funded—in an allegation likely to further inflame Muslims who had taken offense with it—with $5 million collected from Jewish donors.
The low-budget footage includes rough voiceovers and campy scenes that depict the Prophet Muhammad as a womanizing fraud and child molester. The clip's defamatory references to Islam and Muhammad were dubbed in after filming, suggesting the participants might not have been aware of the production's actual intent.
People who characterized themselves as cast and crew members said the film's producer took advantage of them. "We are 100% not behind this film and were grossly misled about its intent and purpose," crew members said in a statement to CNN. "We are shocked by the drastic re-writes of the script and lies that were told to all involved. We are deeply saddened by the tragedies that have occurred."
An expired casting notice posted on the Backstage.com database sought actors for a "historical Arabian Desert adventure film," called "Desert Warrior," naming the producer as "Sam Bassiel." The notice sought men and women to play characters including the lead roles of Dr. Matthew, a Middle Eastern "modern day pharmacist," and George, "a strong leader, romantic, tyrant, a killer with no remorse, accent."
The posting listed two characters as Condalisa and Hilary, evoking the names of the two most recent U.S. secretaries of state.
For its low-budget feel and mysterious provenance, the film has sparked real waves across the world.
The spark that elevated the video from the Internet's backwater appears to have been provided by Morris Sadek, an Egyptian Coptic activist living in the Washington, D.C., area. Mr. Sadek has been an outspoken anti-Islamic activist in the U.S., where he runs a small group called the National American Coptic Assembly.
On Sept. 6, Mr. Sadek sent an email to journalists around the world promoting a Sept. 11 event held by Rev. Terry Jones, the Florida pastor who previously sparked deadly protests by burning a copy of the Quran.
In the email, Mr. Sadek included a link to the 14-minute YouTube clip, calling it "Innocence of Muslims." The man identifying himself as Sam Bacile, in Tuesday's interview, said the clip was a trailer for a full-length film of the same name.
In Egypt, journalists translated some of the footage into Arabic and broadcast it on national television. Several popular preachers on conservative Islamic satellite channels such as Al Rahma and Al Hafez urged people to turn out Tuesday at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, protesters there said.
Mr. Sadek, who features a photograph of himself with Mr. Jones on his website, didn't answer his phone Wednesday. On Tuesday, before news that four Americans had been killed, including the U.S. ambassador, Mr. Sadek had described the events in Cairo as vindication of the movie's message.
"The violence that it caused in Egypt is further evidence of how violent the region and people are and it is more evidence that everything in the film is factual," Mr. Sadek said.
In his interview on Tuesday, the purported filmmaker said the film was inspired in part by 1999 sectarian clashes in Al Kosheh, a predominantly Coptic Christian town in southern Egypt. A dispute between a Christian shoe-store owner and a Muslim customer led to three days of rioting that left 21 people, all but one a Christian, dead.
"Islam is the reason for the terrorism today," he said in the telephone interview.
In the interview, the filmmaker said Mr. Jones invited him to show the full film at a Sept. 11 event at his Florida church. The filmmaker said he was too busy to attend and that Mr. Jones decided not to show the film.
On Tuesday, as the furor over the footage grew, the filmmaker said Mr. Jones called him back and asked for permission to show the 14-minute version. Church officials said Wednesday technical glitches hampered their efforts.
According to YouTube, the original posting by "Sam Bacile" had been viewed more than 220,000 times as of Wednesday, with the top views coming from Egypt, Tunisia and Canada. The footage generated nearly 5,000 "likes" and more than 13,000 "dislikes."
—Matt Bradley and James Oberman contributed to this article.Write to Dion Nissenbaum at [email protected]