An in-production movie about the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 decision legalizing abortion has attracted more attention for actors it didn’t cast than for the recognizable stars it did, a development its writer-director attributes to “fake news.”

Actor turned filmmaker Nick Loeb said his production of “Roe v. Wade,” in which he makes his directorial debut, is under siege by unfriendly media that are reporting erroneously about the film. He cites as a key culprit the Daily Beast, which reported that actors Kevin Sorbo of TV’s “Hercules” and Stephen Baldwin of “The Usual Suspects” — both veterans of faith-based movies — turned down the project after reading the script.

“The ‘fake news’ is incredible. They’re falling all over themselves to lie and spin the truth,” Mr. Loeb said of the media’s treatment of the film. He added that both actors had prior commitments.