Actors Repudiate Dubbed Anti-Islam Film
In a smart, in-depth analysis of the offensive film that sparked the protests, Sarah Abdurrahman, a producer for the radio program On the Media, writes that she noticed on a repeat viewing that: “seemingly every reference to the religion of Islam in the trailer is dubbed over in post-production.” She adds:
If you watch closely, you can see that when the actors are reading parts of the script that do not contain Islam-specific language, the audio from the sound stage is used (the audio that was recorded as the actors were simultaneously being filmed). But anytime the actors are referring to something specific to the religion (the Prophet Muhammed, the Quran, etc.) the audio recorded during filming is replaced with a poorly executed post-production dub. And if you look EVEN closer, you can see that the actors’ mouths are saying something other than what the dub is saying.
Adrian Chen of Gawker managed to contact one of the actresses who worked on the film and she confirms that the offensive lines were added in post-production. Mr. Chen reports:
The actors who appeared in it had no idea they were starring in anti-Islam propaganda which depicts Muhammad as a child molester and thug. They were deceived by the film’s director, believing they were appearing in a film about the life of a generic Egyptian 2,000 years ago.
Cindy Lee Garcia, an actress from Bakersfield, Calif., has a small role in the Muhammad movie as a woman whose young daughter is given to Muhammad to marry. But in a phone interview this afternoon, Garcia told us she had no idea she was participating in an offensive spoof on the life of Muhammad…. “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 Muhammad or Muslims or anything.”
Later on Wednesday, CNN was sent a statement released on the behalf of the 80 cast and crew members of the anti-Islam film “Innocence of Muslims,” says they were misled by the producer.
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,” the statement says. “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.
This news might not make any of those offended by the mere idea of the film any happier, but it does raise the possibility that, looked at from one view, the film is actually not about the Muslim prophet at all — any more than Woody Allen’s overdubbed and remixed “What’s Up Tiger Lilly?” was really about the search for an egg salad recipe.
Meanwhile, in Libya, protesters decrying the attack on the United States consulate have been on the streets, apologizing and mourning the death of the American ambassador and his colleagues.
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