A burnt vehicle is seen at the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, on Wednesday, September 12, one day after armed men stormed the compound and launched a rocket-propelled grenade. The resulting fire left U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and and three other Americans dead. Stevens was trying to leave the consulate building for a safer location as part of an evacuation when gunmen launched an intense attack, apparently forcing security personnel to withdraw. Photos: Protesters storm U.S. Embassy buildings 
A small American flag is seen in the rubble at the U.S. Consulate on Wednesday. 
A man stands in part of the burned-out compound Wednesday. The attack came after intense demonstrations apparently sparked by a little-known film by an Israeli-American amateur filmmaker that angered Muslims as it was deemed insulting to the Prophet Mohammed. 
Smoke and fire damage is evident in this consulate building. 
Half-burnt debris and ash cover the floor of one of the consulate buildings. 
The U.S. Consulate in Benghazi is seen in flames Tuesday, September 11. 
A protester reacts as the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi is seen in flames Tuesday night. 
A vehicle and the surrounding area are engulfed in flames after it was set on fire inside the compound Tuesday. 
Flames erupt outside of a building in the U.S. consulate compound on Tuesday. 
A vehicle burns during the attack Tuesday on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi. 
Onlookers record the damage from the attack on Tuesday. 
Onlookers walk past a burning truck and building in the compound on Tuesday. 
A vehicle sits smoldering in flames on Tuesday. 
People duck flames outside a consulate building on Tuesday. Photos: Protesters storm U.S. Embassy buildings 
- An anti-Islam film posted on YouTube depicts the religion as fraudulent
- Muslims say the film is offensive, immoral
- A Florida pastor who burned a Quran says he was asked to distribute the film
- Little is known about the film's producer
(CNN) -- Little is known about the man behind an online film that mocked Islam and went relatively unnoticed until Tuesday, when it sparked Muslim rage and violent protests in Libya and Egypt.
The Wall Street Journal identified the filmmaker as Sam Bacile, an Israeli-American real estate developer -- but by Wednesday afternoon, doubt surfaced over whether anyone by that name even exists.
The Journal reported that, in its telephone interview with Bacile, he characterized his film called "Innocence of Muslims" as "a political effort to call attention to the hypocrisies of Islam."
"Islam is a cancer," he told the newspaper. "The movie is a political movie. It's not a religious movie."
CNN has not been able to contact Bacile and cannot independently verify his claim that he made the movie. A CNN search of public records on Sam Bacile came up empty.
Israel's Foreign Ministry said it doesn't know who Bacile is.
McCain: 'Their enemies are our enemies' 
Ambassador killed in city he helped save 
Wolf Blitzer reports on deaths in Libya 
Libya struggling to deal with militants Reaction: Libya, West condemn killing
"This guy is totally anonymous. At this point no one can confirm he holds Israeli citizenship and even if he did we are not involved," ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said. "No Israeli institution, government department or office has any involvement in this. This guy acted on his own behalf."
In Egypt and Libya, violent mobs targeted U.S. missions and blamed America for the film. In the end, U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans in the Libyan city of Benghazi were dead, although it remains unclear whether that attack was solely incited by the film.
Consultant Steve Klein told CNN he worked with Bacile on the movie and said the filmmaker is now in hiding.
"He's very depressed, and he's upset," Klein said. "I talked to him this morning, and he said that he was very concerned for what happened to the ambassador."
Klein, however, said it was not the film's fault that protests had turned bloody.
Further casting doubt on the filmmaker's identity, The Atlantic quoted Klein as saying Sam Bacile is a pseudonym and "he did not know Bacile's real name." CNN could not immediately reach Klein for his response to that report.
An online trailer for the film depicts Islam as a fraudulent religion bent on getting rid of nonbelievers. Cartoonish scenes show Prophet Mohammed as a womanizer, child molester, ruthless killer. Other scenes show security forces ordered to do nothing as rampaging Muslims destroy Christian homes, and a donkey anointed the first Muslim animal.
Devout Muslims find any depiction of Mohammed to be offensive -- a Danish newspaper's publication of Mohammed caricatures in 2005 triggered global riots -- and derogatory depictions of the prophet are even worse.
"The film is offensive to the prophet and immoral," said Egyptian Prime Minister Hashem Kandil. "We call on the great people of Egypt to exercise restraint when expressing their anger."
Muslim sensitivities around Prophet Mohammed
The Egyptian prime minister called on the United States to take legal action against the makers of the film.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Bacile said he raised $5 million from about 100 Jewish donors to make the two-hour movie in California last year. It's clear from the trailer, however, that the movie was produced on a very low budget.
He uploaded the movie to YouTube in early July. It got more notice after Egyptian television recently aired segments and anti-Islam activists, including Egyptian-born Coptic Christian Morris Sadek, promoted it online.
Terry Jones, the Florida pastor whose Quran-burning last year sparked deadly riots in Afghanistan, said he had been contacted to help distribute the film.
"The film is not intended to insult the Muslim community, but it is intended to reveal truths about Mohammed that are possibly not widely known," Jones said.
"It is very clear that God did not influence him (Mohammed) in the writings of the Quran," said Jones, who went on to blame Muslims' fear of criticism for the protests, rather than the film.
Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called Jones on Wednesday to ask him to withdraw his support for the film, according to Col. David Lapan, Dempsey's spokesman.
"Jones' support of the film risks causing more violence and death," Lapan said.
Tensions mounted Wednesday as the U.S. deployed Marines in response to the Libyan situation, giving rise to fears that more violence would erupt, especially on Friday, Islam's day of religious observance.
Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood -- the party of its new President Mohamed Morsy -- has called for peaceful protests this Friday to denounce the film.
In Afghanistan, the Taliban charged that the movie was made with the permission of the U.S. government, while President Hamid Karzai condemned the film as abhorrent and an act of desecration.
"There could be many deaths once news of this video and Pastor Terry Jones' comments get out," said Karzai's deputy spokesman.
The issue is particularly sensitive in Afghanistan, where, earlier this year, throngs of people protested NATO's inadvertent burning of Qurans at Bagram Airfield. U.S. President Barack Obama said the act was unintentional, but the uproar nonetheless was huge.
In America, a Muslim advocacy group called the movie "trashy" and said its producers did not represent the United States or the Christian faith.
"We urge that this ignorant attempt to provoke the religious feelings of Muslims in the Arabic-speaking world be ignored and that its extremist producers not be given the cheap publicity they so desperately seek," said the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
Facebook sprouted several pages dedicated to condemning the film, including one called "Israelis, Jews & Americans Against Sam Bacile's 'Innocence of Muslims' Film."
A post on that page simply said: "IM-Bacile."
Witnessing protests in Libya or Egypt? Share your photos on CNN iReport.
CNN's Brian Todd and Barbara Starr contributed to this report.
