Posted on 09/14/2012 6:02:53 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
The Innocence of Muslims, a movie that has enraged radical Islamists who have rioted and committed murders in the Middle East this week, was partially shot on a set that Paramount's TV unit helped to build for its TV show JAG, and a man with five decades of movie and television experience is helping the FBI figure out who is behind the controversial film.
Portions of the infamous, micro-budget movie were filmed in Saugus, about 30 miles north of Hollywood, on a portion of Blue Cloud Film Ranch called “Baghdad Square,” which is often used for TV and film productions seeking to replicate Middle Eastern war zones.
PHOTOS: Fall Movie Preview
“JAG and Paramount and myself, we built this entire set for the JAG TV series,” says Blue Cloud owner Rene Veluzat in a YouTube video where he describes his movie ranch. On Thursday, though, that video was made “private” and protected by a password.
Paramount Television produced JAG, which aired on CBS from 1995-2005.
A Paramount spokesperson said the studio has no way to verify whether it built the set.
The building facades in and around Baghdad Square at Blue Cloud appear in episodes of JAG and The Innocence of Muslims, as well as other TV shows and movies.
The FBI and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department were interviewing Veluzat on Thursday, and Veluzat told The Hollywood Reporter that both law-enforcement agencies instructed him not to speak with the press or other interested parties about what he knows about The Innocence of Muslims.
STORY: California Man Claims Connection to Anti-Islam Film
Sources close to the investigation say they’re hoping Veluzat can, among other information, provide clarity as to the real names of the filmmakers. The Innocence of Muslims filmed Aug. 18, 2011, at Blue Cloud under the name Desert Warrior. The producer was listed in the film permit as Sam Bossil, though it’s an alias (reports also have identified him as Sam Bacile).
According to Film L.A., the county is holding the film permit under lock and key for now while it alerts those who are named on it that their identities -- assuming they are real -- are about to made public. Insiders say law-enforcement officials are concerned for the safety of the filmmakers once their true identities are known.
STORY: Sam Bacile, Filmmaker Behind Anti-Islam Movie that Sparked Riots, in Hiding
Other movies and TV shows partially filmed at Blue Cloud include Iron Man, Get Him to the Greek, Serenity, Arrested Development, NCIS Los Angeles, The Closer, Threat Matrix and CSI. The U.S. military has also made training videos at Blue Cloud.
Veluzat, 72, said the 100-acre ranch is for sale for $15 million.
STORY: Who Is Sam Bacile? Mystery of Anti-Islam Filmmaker's Link to Libya Embassy Riots Deepens
Veluzat worked as a stand-in for TV shows in the 1960s. Later, he acted, did stunt work, worked in post production, transportation and in the art department of various productions. In 2003, he produced The Long Ride Home, a film starring Randy Travis, Eric Roberts and Ernest Borgnine that Lions Gate Films distributed.
They did, though it was handled differently.
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Given the corrupt DoJ my bet is the FBI is planning to arrest them on orders from the White House & turn them over to Egypt for trial for violating Egyptian blasphemy laws.
Because nobody told them to mind their own business? Until we stand up against tyranny, they will run roughshod over anybody and everybody they want to.
It almost looks like the Obama administration wants to intimidate anyone else who might consider releasing anything that is ‘inflammatory’ to Muslims by making this guy vulnerable to a nasty revenge killing.
I hope that’s not what they’re about.
Why is the FBI investigating this production?
Hello ACLU and all you 1st Amendment, Leftwing, Hollywood evangelists? What say you?!?!?!?
seriously, there is nothing illegal about this as far as I can tell.
NASA was going to use it to show muslims landing on the moon to boost their sense of pride.
yup, makes LENI RIEFENSTAHL look like an amateur...
It was a movie made by a con artist who told the press he was Jewish,not only was he trying to rile up the Hajis but he was doing so in a way that would have been blamed on the Jews.
I have no sympathy for the man or his piece of crap,as for rioting over this.....that is completely retarded.
I doubt it is responsible for what happened in Libya or the Muslims setting the embassies on fire,by the way.The former was planned most likely weeks in advance and the latter was just tinder waiting for any reason to go off.
Putting criminal charges against him would be a complete waste of taxpayer money and time.It would make him look like some kind of hero,which he clearly isn’t.Also what he did was covered by Free Speech,the rest of the world doesn’t have a right to dictate their rules to Americans.
So they’re spending more money, time and manpower investigating a YouTube video that’s covered by the First Amendment than they are the killing of an American ambassador, 3 of his staff and how Islamists were able to carry out all those attacks? Do I understand that correctly?
Don’t tell me.. Mitt Romney or Bain Capital funded it! OCTOBER SURPRISE! LOL! /sarcasm
Because ‘We were attacked on 9/11/12 by TERRORISTS even though the WAR ON TERROR is over’ narrative is to be avoided at all costs?
Is there not one FBI agent, one CIA agent, one Secret Service agent who will publicly object to this? Is there not one who believes in the constitution?
So I’m putting on my tin foil hat, but...
Loose end? Someone knows who really made this movie and who was involved. He’s being strong armed to STFU. The permit is being held under lock and key ‘for the safety of the filmmakers’, and the named producer is Sam Bacile... anyone notice Imbecile coming to mind in that name? And Uncle Sam? Uncle Sam Imbecile = Sam Bacile. His ethnicity keeps changing, there’s Guy Fawkes masks on the ground at the riot, the news media jumped on Romney immediately. Something is rotten in Denmark.
I’m starting to wonder if Obama didn’t realize that the August numbers along with other economic news was killing him. He needed to sustain his bounce, so shift everything to foreign policy and away from the economy. Foment rage in the US, trigger attacks on the middle east and hope people will not change horses in the middle of a ‘war’. It truly is starting to be a ‘wag the dog’ scenario. And if I’m even a little right, I really would like to meet the person who orchestrated all this because they are impressive - even if evil.
“You mean you think the film maker is a liberal and probably not really anti-Muslim?”
Sorry if it’s a stretch, but I think the film maker is a plant/double agent and is actually a Moslem who is being paid by the Obama cronies to have made this film as a decoy reason for the 9/11 embassy attacks. Maybe I’m just paranoid, but that is my current thinking. The movie came out of nowhere - the embassy events were planned in advance - this scenario is not all that far fetched, really. And the Islams hate the Coptic Christians so naturally the plant would pretend to be a Coptic Christian. We’ll see.. I have my suspicions!!
Actually, my thinking is more on the lines of what you said. A liberal who may or may not be anti-Muslim but very pro-Obama, very anti-republican or very anti-conservative.
There is something else I was thinking. I heard that originally the movie was supposed to be titled "Innocence of Bin Laden". Perhaps after the killing of Bin Laden he felt a title change was needed for whatever reason.
Time to go after Edward D. Wood Jr.
No wonder muslims worship the moon. ALL THOSE ROCKS.
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