Axel Braun (born September 22, 1966) is an Italian-American adult film producer and director known for his productions of pornographic parodies.[3][1][6][7] He is the most awarded director in the history of adult films.[8]
Braun has directed over 500 movies since 1990.[12] Braun's movie Batman XXX: A Porn Parody was the best-selling and best-renting title of 2010.[13][14] Due to the success of Batman XXX, Vivid Entertainment created a new line to capitalize on the superhero and sci-fi genres called Vivid Superhero and Braun was named leading director for the initiative.[15] In 2013, Braun left Vivid and signed an exclusive directing contract with Wicked Pictures[16] to launch Wicked Fairy Tales and Wicked Comix, two imprints dedicated exclusively to fairy tale and comic book parodies.[17][18]
In December 2020, following the acquisition of Wicked Pictures by Gamma Entertainment, Braun was appointed Head of Production for the company.[19] On June 23, 2023, Braun announced his retirement from the adult industry after a career spanning 33 years. [8]
Advocacy
In October 2010, Braun filed a federal lawsuit against 7,098 individuals who he alleged illegally shared digital copies of his movie Batman XXX: A Porn Parody.[20]
In October 2013, Braun instated a policy that required all performers appearing in sexually explicit roles in any of his movies to be 21 years of age, or older.[21]
In May 2014, Braun announced two new policies for his productions. First, he would no longer forgo the use of condoms in his videos. Second, he will require full-panel STD/HIV tests no older than seven days. He added that he would personally cover the cost for the test if a performer's current test is older.[22]
Recognition
Braun was inducted into the AVN Hall of Fame in 2011 and into the XRCO Hall of Fame in 2014.[9][10] He has won the AVN Best Parody award for ten consecutive years in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020.[23] Braun is the only adult director to have won the AVN Director of the Year award four consecutive times in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014.[24]
In January 2015, 24 XXX: An Axel Braun Parody became the first parody ever to win the AVN Movie of the Year award.[25] Braun won the top award again in 2016 with Peter Pan XXX: An Axel Braun Parody, and in 2017 with Suicide Squad XXX: An Axel Braun Parody scoring an unprecedented AVN Movie of the Year three-peat.[26]
In 2019, Braun won the AVN Movie of the Year for a fourth time with The Possession of Mrs. Hyde, his first non-parody feature in 15 years, written with his father Lasse Braun and his son Rikki, and shot entirely in Black and White CinemaScope.[23]
Other ventures
Braun is the owner of Level 5 Post, a post-production company that supplies editing, authoring, graphics and special effects to many adult and mainstream companies.[27]
