Report: Anti-Islam Film Directed by Softcore Porn Maker

The director of the anti-Islam film "Innocence of Muslims" is a 65-year-old softcore porn director named Alan Roberts, Gawker reported Friday.

"Alan Roberts" is listed as the director on the casting notice for the film, back when it was titled "Desert Warrior." According to Gawker, it's the same Alan Roberts whose IMDb credits include softcore porn and low-budget flicks such as "The Sexpert," "Young Lady Chatterley" and "The Happy Hooker Goes to Hollywood":

"I am sure it was the same Alan Roberts, as I remember him speaking about this project," said filmmaker David A. Prior, a longtime acquaintance of Roberts, in an email. Roberts is listed as a producer on two of Prior's films, 2008's Zombie Wars and 2007's Lost at War.

"He did work on [Innocence of Muslims]," confirmed a man who was Roberts' business partner in a post-production facility he ran, who asked not to be named.

The backstory behind how Roberts became director of Innocence of Muslims is still unclear, like so many things about the film. We've tried to reach Roberts, but his business associate told us he "turned off his phone" soon after protests broke out over the film and is laying low. But he said Roberts was "non-political" and did not have any apparent anti-Islam feelings.

Cast and crew told Gawker that Roberts was brought on to the project by producer "Sam Bacile," now known to be a pseudonym linked to Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, who was interviewed by federal officers early Saturday. The site said Roberts' real name is Robert Brownell, who according to documents paid for some pre-production services for the film.

Those involved in the film's production have said they were misled about its intent and purpose, and that actors' lines were dubbed over with inflammatory language about the Prophet Muhammad. Gawker's report suggested Roberts may have been similarly duped about the final product.

An actress who worked on the film told Gawker in an email she believed he had nothing to do with the film's political angle.

"My gut tells me he was just a has-been director who was trying to prove he could still be Hollywood," she wrote.

"Innocence of Muslims" has been blamed at least in part for igniting mob violence against U.S. missions throughout the Middle East. U.S. officials are probing whether the attack against the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya that killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other American personnel was part of a coordinated strike to mark the 11th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.