LOS ANGELES—Following the reveal over the weekend of Leslie Grace's costume for the upcoming HBO MAX Batgirl movie, Wicked Pictures head of production Axel Braun announced Tuesday that pre-production is officially underway for Batgirl XXX: An Axel Braun Parody—with a pledge to suit the character up in a superior costume.
“The Burnside costume was already an arguable choice in itself, and the execution just didn’t work for me,” said Braun, a self-professed comic geek who has already parodied dozens DC characters. “There is this growing trend of de-sexualizing and de-feminizing female superheroes, and while I understand, appreciate and support the portrayal of strong independent women in movies, I refuse to strip them of their sensuality and femininity. Also, I make porn movies, so that would be kinda counterproductive."
Known for his reverence to the source material and detailed costumes that often rival and surpass Hollywood in both craftsmanship and comic accuracy, Braun felt it was his mission to rectify what he considers a disservice to the fans in more ways than one. “Obviously the first images can often be deceiving, but in this case there was simply too much that I didn’t like,” said the director, who just finished shooting Spideypool XXX. "I just have a feeling that the directors, Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, didn’t quite understand the character, and most importantly, as evidenced by their social media attack on the many disgruntled fans (STFU and wait for the film!), maybe they also don’t understand the comic book community. As a fan myself, I felt disrespected. So I’m gonna fix this, at least in the porn world!"
A 10-consecutive-time winner of the Best Parody AVN Award, Braun's track record is veritably untouchable—his 2012 blockbuster Star Wars XXX still holds the record of highest-selling adult movie ever, and his first non-parody feature in 15 years, The Possession of Mrs. Hyde, written with his late father, golden age porn pioneer Lasse Braun, and his son, third-generation adult director Rikki Braun, and shot entirely in black-and-white CinemaScope, won five AVN Awards, including Movie of the Year, Best Director and Best Screenplay. Batgirl XXX will be his 63rd parody.
While plot details for Batgirl XXX remain under wraps, the director said: “I’m gonna give the fans a sexy, empowered, badass Batgirl with the most epic, awesome costume ever seen on film!”
A virtual casting call will be announced in the coming weeks.
Batgirl XXX: An Axel Braun Parody will be available later this year exclusively on Wicked.com
