‘Innocence of Muslims’ unrest

In a run-down theat­er on a seedy stretch of Hol­ly­wood Boulevard this sum­mer, an in­de­pend­ent movie made its de­but. The act­ing was am­a­teur­ish, the dia­logue clunky and the cos­tumes no bet­ter than those sold for Hal­loween. Even with a pretty young wo­man beck­on­ing ped­es­tri­ans in­side, few­er than 10 people at­ten­ded.

But three months later, the movie — “In­no­cence of Muslims” — would be blamed the world over for in­cit­ing mobs in Egypt and Libya. The movie was filmed and first re­leased in South­ern Cali­for­nia, but much else about its ori­gins re­mains a mys­tery.

— Phil Wil­lon and Re­becca Kee­gan