Page 43 - AVN June 2018

“AS FAR AS HAVING
A PERSONA, YEAH,
I’VE HAD PICTURES
TAKEN WITH A
BENTLEY, AND YEAH,
IT GETS TRACTION, IT
GETS ATTENTION, IT
GETS WHAT PEOPLE
WANNA SEE. THEY
LIKE TO CREATE A
MYTHOLOGICAL
FIGURE FOR
WHATEVER REASON.
THAT’S HOW
FANDOM WORKS. SO
I THINK THERE IS A
VALUE IN THAT.”
—AXEL BRAUN ON FAME
of other bookings and he needs to shave the beard
and I need to wait two and a half weeks to shoot. …
Always to some degree it gets stressful, but this was a
particularly cursed production.”
On top of that, he had rented space at Hustler
and then the facility was shut down. “Nobody told
me because they’re not even aware that I rented the
studio and paid already and my sets are inside, built.
And then we go and the air conditioning doesn’t work
… we’re shooting and it’s 110 degrees. … I always
found ways to have a Plan B and a Plan C, and [this
time] I got to Plan W—it was hard. Even my trusty
production manager Marc Kramer, who’s been with
me for 10 years and has seen it all, got to the point
where he could almost not see a way out. But in the
end we made it through, and winning six AVN Awards
for it suddenly made it all worthwhile.”
For 2018, the big project is Deadpool XXX. In
addition to the usual inspired casting, Braun also has
interesting collaborators: he co-wrote the script with
Jen and Sylvia Soska. Known as the “Twisted Twins,”
the Soskas are Canadian siblings who work together as
directors, producers and screenwriters.
“The Soskas are just so awesome and talented,
and we’ve been fans of each others’ work for years,”
Axel elaborated. “They are also huge Deadpool fans
and they asked me many times if I was gonna make
a parody, and the truth is that I almost didn’t. Not
only the comic book character is itself a parody of a
superhero, but Ryan Reynolds did such a phenomenal
job with it that I really didn’t know how to make
this happen. I mean, how do you parody a parody?
Then they emailed me this: ‘Axel, the world needs you
doing Deadpool.’ Seeing how much they truly loved
the character and how highly they thought of me was
really inspiring, and suddenly a light bulb went on
in my head on how to crack the code to a very funny
movie. I emailed them some of my ideas, and we were
so on the same page that I straight out asked them
if they would consider writing the script with me.
Now, keep in mind these are two absolutely brilliant,
successful mainstream directors/screenwriters who
really don’t need to be associated with a porn director,
so you can imagine how stoked I was when they said
yes. I am still pinching myself.”
This time around, the project was announced
without an open casting call. The movie will star Seth
Gamble in the title role, with Wicked Pictures contract
star Jessica Drake as Lady Deadpool—and fellow
Wicked director Brad Armstrong in the role of Cable,
played in the mainstream version by Josh Brolin.
In addition, the cast will include Romi Rain, Aiden
Ashley, Ana Foxxx, Ramon Nomar and Angela White.
“I did audition for some of the other roles, but
instead of my usual 100-plus people open casting call,
I held this one privately since I had a shortlist already
ALL IN THE FAMILY Axel Braun on set with son Rikki.
On page 40, Lasse Braun (inset, upper left), Rikki Braun (inset,
lower left) and Axel Braun directing Justice League XXX.
going in,” the director said. “Romi Rain never needs
to audition again for anything else I’ll ever shoot—her
stellar performance as Wonder Woman in Justice League
XXX is more than enough for me to know she can
nail any role I’d throw at her. Same goes for Seth: His
performance as Luke Skywalker in Star Wars XXX and
his level of commitment to all my projects are still a
blueprint for any actors who work with me.”
A couple are new to the Braun parody universe.
“Ramon Nomar also hasn’t been in one yet,” Axel
commented. “Luckily I’ve known him for a long time
and he’s well aware of my crazy 22-hour days on set
… and he’s a very talented and disciplined actor—he
actually graduated two years ago from the world-
renowned Stella Adler Academy—so hopefully he
won’t hate me after this. But having Brad Armstrong
is a real treat. This is the first time we ever worked
together in the five years I’ve been at Wicked, and I’m
totally looking forward to it. And by the way, he’s the
one who came up with the idea for Angela’s character,
so obviously he brings a lot more to the table than just
his acting and performance prowess.”
Despite his experiences with Justice League XXX,
Braun doesn’t expect to have as much trouble with
this year’s big blockbuster: “I don’t think anything will
ever be a more grueling experience than Justice League
XXX—I still have PTSD from it, and I know I’m not
the only one! The biggest challenge with Deadpool
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