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Update (below): Film’s consultant confirms “Sam Bacile” is not real
A man who claimed he’s the creator of an anti-Muslim film that’s sparked violent protests in Libya and Egypt may not be who he says he is.
The mysterious “Sam Bacile” supposedly spoke to The Associated Press, The Wall Street Journal and The Times of Israel, claiming to be a California real estate developer and an Israeli Jew who raised $5 million for the film from 100 other nameless Jewish donors.
However, since those stories were published, several cracks in that description have emerged, and now reporters are wondering whether he even exists at all.
The WSJ reported that he’s 52, but the AP placed his age at 56. Raw Story‘s own inquiries could not find a ”Sam Bacile” linked to any California court filing, which would be highly unusual for a real estate developer. He’s also missing from U.S. genealogy databases and the major social media networks.
And yet another wrinkle: Speaking on condition of anonymity, Israeli officials told the AP that they have no record of anyone by that name. “If that is true, and ‘Bacile’ was claiming to be Jewish and to have raised money from Jews for the film, it only multiplies the incendiary nature of his project,” Religion Dispatches senior editor Sarah Posner pointed out.
I just called a man named Steve Klein -- a self-described militant Christian activist in Riverside, California (whose actual business, he said, is in selling "hard-to-place home insurance"), who has been described in multiple media accounts as a consultant to the film.
Klein told me that Bacile, the producer of the film, is not Israeli, and most likely not Jewish, as has been reported, and that the name is, in fact, a pseudonym.
. . . I asked him who he thought Sam Bacile was. He said that there are about 15 people associated with the making of the film, "Nobody is anything but an active American citizen. They're from Syria, Turkey, Pakistan, they're some that are from Egypt. Some are Copts but the vast majority are Evangelical."
That's really interesting to me, because I just watched the beginning of the . . . well, let's call it a "film", for want of a better word. My first thought was, "Wow, everyone in the movie is clearly of western European descent, but boy, do they have great tans." Then I realized that the makers of the "film" had tried to make the pasty, Caucasian actors look Arab by slathering a little Black Opal Truly Topaz on most of the exposed skin. (There are gaps).
Originally posted by eleven44
That was my first thought upon seeing a few clips from the film!
The person who made it is NOT a filmmaker. I went to film school and graduated with a film degree. I have seen all kinds of horrible student films, but this film isn't even CLOSE to using some of even the most basic filming techniques.
And $5 million for this film, seriously?
It wreaks (imho) of government officials who are trying to cause trouble.
Again, this film was NOT made by a 'filmmaker' with the intentions of just being a goofy 'film.'
(Of course this is all my speculation. But i'm glad that you've brought it up too, because it was my first thoughts.)edit on 12-9-2012 by eleven44 because: (no reason given)
The Obama administration, roiled by the first killing of a U.S. ambassador in more than 30 years, is investigating whether the assault on the U.S. consulate in Libya was a planned terrorist strike to mark the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and not a spontaneous mob enraged over an anti-Islam YouTube video.
www.newsday.com...
Originally posted by MeesterB
Lol if you were going to do something that you know will cause riots and death-threats..