Axel Braun is having one of the best years ever. His “Batman XXX: A Porn Parody” is dominating the adult DVD sales charts, he won XBIZ Director of the Year 2010 back in February, and he’s got some more big movies in the works. Braun’s twentieth year in the industry is probably his best yet.
On Monday, July 26, his year turned positively epic as Braun and Vivid Entertainment announced that he had begun pre-production on “Star Wars XXX: A Porn Parody,” to be exclusively distributed by Vivid. xPeeps got hold of Braun to find out more about what promises to be one of the most exciting porn parodies ever made.
This parody, it turns out, is just the beginning of Braun’s Star Wars trip. “We’re going to cover the original movie because I’m planning on doing sequels and following the story line of each movie,” he tells us. “Of course, being a parody we’re going to exploit certain elements of the story line and we’re going to add some of our own, and we’re going to try and stay as faithful as we can to the original, which is what the fans want.”
Braun is well known for combining style and sex as seen in beautifully shot movies like “Stimula.” He puts as much emphasis on creating striking images as he does on turning you on, and anyone who has seen any of Braun’s previous parodies, especially his Batman and Star Trek spoofs, will be familiar with his attention to detail. “That was an easy one because the sets at the time, the production value was not that high,” Braun says. “With Star Wars the challenge is that we want to make it look and feel like the original and of course there are a lot of special effects and production value involved.”
If you think that translates to big bucks, you’re not wrong. “Yes, it will be probably the highest budget ever. It will also be the highest selling ever, hopefully! I’m having such an amazing year and my ‘Batman’ movie, which I produced and directed and Vivid distributed for me, it’s been number one in the charts for seven weeks in a row now and it’s unbelievable.”
Production has yet to begin on “Star Wars XXX: A Porn Parody,” as Braun’s a busy man. “I’m shooting Superman next for Vivid in the next few weeks and right after that I’m going to do a little 3D teaser for Star Wars. Production will be diluted over several months because it’s a big deal. It’s gonna probably be like a 16-day shoot, so we’re going to break down into like four at a time here and there throughout the next few months.”
As 3D has taken over the mainstream, it’s no surprise to see major studios like Vivid embracing the trend even though it’s no cheap feat. Braun has just come off another huge project in 3D and may give an indication of what things may “pop up,” so to speak. “It was a great test for what I’m going to do in the future with 3D. Basically I storyboard, personally, all my movies. The way I storyboard for 3D, you need to take full advantage of what 3D can give to the viewer. You’ve got to have certain things lay staggered in a certain way, certain backgrounds and colors need to be arranged in a certain way so the eye can be tricked into going in a certain direction and flowing with the 3D shot. Definitely there are things sexually too that are going to be shown in a different way. [On my recent project] all the pop shots were aimed almost at the camera so that it feels like it’s coming out of the screen, so that’s one of the things. And of course squirting being one of the things I’m known for, that will be involved.”
When we found out about “Star Wars XXX: A Porn Parody,” we couldn’t help wondering which characters would be seen getting freaky in the movie. “Chewbacca will get the girl,” Braun confirms with a laugh. “There’s a limited number of characters, especially a limited number of women in the Star Wars universe so you need to just make sure that when you shoot a parody you’re selling a fantasy. When you sell a fantasy you can’t just have a couple of characters dressed up and then a bunch of random people having sex. You want to see your characters having sex. I think that Chewbacca will definitely have a scene, so will Darth Vader and Luke and Han Solo and of course Princess Leia will be the big scene at the end. We can’t say who she’s going to have sex with but it’s gonna be entertaining.” So no droid sex, then? Laughing, Braun says, “You know, I don’t think that we’re going to have droid sex but we will definitely have some kind of funny thing that involves the droids in sexual situations, I can tell you that.” Braun also tells us we can expect a few variations on iconic lines of dialogue from the original film. “The fans will not be disappointed in that.”
Braun’s famous attention to detail will translate to the iconic set pieces, including light sabers. “I contacted a really impressive Hollywood special effects company and they have some unbelievable things. Also, think about it, when the original Star Wars was done, it was a long time ago so the special effects were not as developed as they are today, so there are a lot of really cool things that we’re going to be able to do and I’m really excited about it.”
Lexington Steele as Darth Vader?
He is also excited about casting one particular character from the movie. “I’m partial to Darth Vader. I’m going to say right here, right now I want Lexington Steele to play Darth Vader. I haven’t told him yet but that’s who I want to play Darth Vader. Lex is a great guy and a great performer,” Braun enthuses. “I also like to stay true to the little details and the voice of Darth Vader was James Earl Jones, you know, it’s a black guy, and I like the idea of using a black performer for the role. I think it makes sense. Plus, you know, Darth Vader is supposed to have a huge black cock, who better than Lex?” We can’t think of anyone better. In fact, we’d go so far as to say he was born to play the role.
It’s clear that Axel Braun is truly a fan of Star Wars. He has said in interviews that he only does parodies of things he likes. Knowing that Star Wars fans and Star Trek fans sometimes have a friendly rivalry, knowing that he will have done parodies of both, we had to ask whether he has a preference. “You know, they were just two very different things,” he replies. “Star Trek was like a guilty pleasure, something that I watched as a kid late at night on TV in Italy where I grew up. I’d watch two or three episodes at a time. It was a funny little tongue in cheek kind of thing. Star Wars was a big deal, Star Wars was something that when it came out, I was a kid and it was this mind-blowing experience. They’re all things that are part of my youth and it’s great to be able to recreate them in my world, which is very exciting. Yes, there is a lot of work involved and I’m a perfectionist, I don’t leave anything out. I really make sure all the details are perfect and that’s the only way I can do it. Honestly the whole point is pleasing the fans and the fact that I am one of them, so if I’m not pleased they’re not pleased. Being able to understand what they want is a luxury that I have. I’ve been offered so many parodies over the last year but I can only do things that I actually enjoy doing,” he says.
“I’m at a point in my life, in my career, that really I don’t need to make movies just to make movies,” Braun continues. “If I want to make a buck I’ll shoot a gonzo movie here and there. This is a lot to do with wanting to do it and doing something that is exciting and fulfilling. I have so many amazing parodies, the next year and eight months of my schedule is full. I have all these parodies that I’m shooting and I can’t wait. I have the Godfather, Grease, and so many that I haven’t even announced, but I’ll announce little by little. I have all the superhero stuff for Vivid, which is very exciting. I’m doing Superman next and then Spiderman, the Green Hornet. I mean it’s amazing, very exciting.”
We were curious about what might be his dream parody, but he’s already got it planned and we’re going to have to wait and see what it is. “Believe me, all the ones that I have in store I don’t think that there’s anything left, I’m living my parody dream year for sure.”
Axel Braun Accepting the Best Director Award at the XBIZ Awards 2010Braun is already scheduled to work on more Batman parodies. The runaway success of “Batman XXX: A Porn Parody” has surpassed his expectations. “I went to Comic-Con over the weekend in San Diego and… it was huge. I went with Evan Stone, who played the Riddler in my Batman parody, and he dressed up as the Riddler and he signed Batman posters at the booth and he was literally mobbed. There were more people trying to get his autograph and the posters than in places – we were right next to the booth for Legendary Pictures, who did the movie ‘Inception,’ which is now the number one movie in the country. And all these people were flooding this booth, trying to get Evan Stone to sign an autograph, it was amazing. And we had posters for Star Wars, we announced Star Wars, it was a riot. It was really exciting.”
This level of public fever could get even bigger for a movie like “Star Wars XXX: A Porn Parody,” based on such a beloved fictional universe. As much as people love Batman, we think chances are good they will go even crazier for Star Wars parody porn. The Robot Chicken and Family Guy spoofs, which Braun has seen, are wildly popular. “If you look on YouTube there are so many fan-made home movies, parodies of stuff. There are things in the Star Wars universe, there are questions unanswered. Did Han Solo shoot first? That’s a classic question, there’s a scene in the original movie where he’s having an argument, a discussion with this guy and he shoots him point blank. But then in the second version they retouched it and they thought it was not good for him to shoot first so they showed that the other guy shot first, and it’s a thing that’s been going on for years. But we’ll see if he shoots first and what he shoots, we’ll figure that out.”
Read more about Axel Braun at his official website.
DISCLAIMER: Star Wars XXX: A Porn Parody is a parody movie. Star Wars, Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia, Chewbacca, and Obi-Wan-Kenobi are registered trademarks of Lucasfilm Ltd. This video is not sponsored, endorsed by or affiliated with Lucasfilm Ltd. or any of its subsidiaries or affiliated companies and/or third-party licensors.