Cast of Anti-Islam Film Slams Filmmaker for Deception

An actress with a bit part in The Innocence of Islam, the film that may have sparked riots in Libya and Egypt, says that the filmmaker behind the project was deceptive about his intentions and mysterious during production.

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Cindy Lee Garcia (her name is listed as Cindy Lee Davis on IMDB), told Gawker that she was told the film would be a generic story about ancient Egypt titled Desert Warriors.

"It was going to be a film based on how things were 2,000 years ago," she told the site. "It wasn't based on anything to do with religion, it was just on how things were run in Egypt. There wasn't anything about Muhammed or Muslims or anything."

Instead, the filmmaker, who claims to be named Sam Bacile, dubbed over many lines in post-production, including one that accuses Muhammad of being a child molester; the film lampoons the holy figure as a sexual abuser, deviant and homosexual.

She also claims that Bacile, who says he is an Israeli (though the country has no record of his existence), spoke Arabic and told her he was Egyptian. The film is being promoted by Egyptian Coptics, led by anti-Muslim activist Morris Sadek. Earlier in the day, The Hollywood Reporter learned that Bacile was not registered with the Directors' Guild of America, and that the production likely had no union crew workers.

The cast of the film released a statement via CNN, saying, "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 re-writes of the script and lies that were told to all involved. We are deeply saddened by the tragedies that have occurred."

Garcia says that she will sue Balice.

There is debate as to whether it was protestors that were responsible for the death of US Ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, or if it is due to a concurrent Al Qaeda-planned attack.