Jackson Free Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Video excerpts from an anti-Muslim movie provoked assaults by mobs on U.S. missions in Egypt and Libya. But the man who says he directed and wrote it has little or no record of existing, has made other claims that appear false and says he has gone into hiding.

He identified himself in a telephone interview with The Associated Press as Sam Bacile. He said he was an Israeli-born Jewish writer and the director of "Innocence of Muslims." Bacile was the name used to publish excerpts of the movie online as early as July 2.

But his background came under growing doubt Wednesday. A Christian activist who said he was a consultant on the film told The Atlantic that Bacile was a pseudonym and that the man was not Jewish or Israeli. Israeli officials said there was no record of him being a citizen.