A 21-year-old actress, who has worked in the controversial film that allegedly insults Islam, has said the film-maker duped her into taking a starring role, the Daily Mail reported Sunday.
The young actress, Anna Gurji, is now living in fear for her life, the daily said.
Nakoula Basseley Nakoula – aka Sam Bacile – has been named by the FBI as the 55-year-old director responsible for “Innocence Of Muslims”.
Nakoula is an Egyptian-born Coptic Christian. Now living in California, he is a convicted drug dealer and conman who was released from jail in June last year.
Gurji, who the Daily Mail said plays a character’s child bride, spoke of her fear of reprisals and how she was “betrayed” by Nakoula.
“I was playing the youngest bride of a character named ‘George’. I had no idea George would be changed to Mohammad. I’m locked up in my house. I’m terrified people in the Middle East will blame me,” she was quoted as saying.
“I’m Catholic so they might think I have something against Muslims. I’m taking pills to sleep. I’ve been crying for days. I feel betrayed. My face is stuck on the movie clip. People see that awful film and they see me,” she said.
Gurji told the Daily Mail she and her fellow actors believed they were making an action film called “Desert Warrior” and that Nakoula never discussed religion.
“I was told I was to be Hilary, the young bride of a character called George,” she said.
“The film was about a comet that falls to Earth in the ancient Middle East. There are different tribes who think the comet is somehow holy and fight over it.”
“There were supposed to be lots of special effects so a lot of the filming was in front of a green screen. It was super low-budget. I was getting $75 a day and all my scenes were shot with George against the green screen. I had no idea how it would be twisted,” she said.
“Maybe I’m naive but no warning bells went off. I auditioned, showed up and did my lines. None of us involved in it had any idea there was a secret agenda,” the Daily Mail quoted her as saying.
The crudely-made 13-minute English-language film, was filmed in California and circulated on the internet under several titles including “Innocence of Muslims”.
The film sparked a violent protest at the US consulate in Libya’s Benghazi city, in which the US ambassador and three other Americans were killed. Protests have spread to other countries across the Muslim world.
—IANS