LOS ANGELES — Four-time XBIZ Director of the Year Axel Braun landed a six-page spread in the June 2016 issue of mainstream film magazine Empire, marking the first time the publication has profiled a porn director.
“I've been a huge movie buff since I can remember, and as a kid, Empire Magazine was my bible,” Braun said. “I would always buy two copies — one to keep, and one to rip the best pages out of and frame them. And staring at all those classic movie moments hanging in my room, I always dreamed that one day I would become a famous Hollywood director and I'd be immortalized in those very pages. Well, my career took a slightly different turn, but today that dream has finally come true, and I am absolutely stoked!”
Accompanied by images shot by renowned British photographer Steve Schofield, the article praises Braun’s filmmaking prowess and attention to detail, as well as his “outstanding talent and flamboyant persona”.
“Mainstream press can be tricky,” Braun commented. “Years ago, a crew from a huge primetime Italian TV show followed me for a week, and they were awesome, but when the show came out they had edited together a mostly negative story, depicting me as a total douchebag. That’s what I feared when Empire contacted me, but being such a fan of the magazine I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity of appearing in it, and luckily the article is excellent. I am proud to say that I absolutely come off only mildly douchey.”
All three Axel Braun Productions contract girls, Carter Cruise, Riley Steele and Aiden Ashley, appear in the background of one of the shots, along with Wicked Girl Asa Akira, while several of Braun’s film covers, including the all-time highest-selling adult movie "Star Wars XXX: A Porn Parody" and last year’s XBIZ Award winners "Peter Pan XXX: An Axel Braun Parody" and "Batman v Superman XXX: An Axel Braun Parody," are featured across two pages.
“It was so dope!” said Cruise, who is shown in the spread wearing her "Supergirl XXX" costume. “Like, these people are the real deal and they were so nice and professional, and they treated us with respect instead of asking the typical cheesy questions, which are always awkward as fuck.”
The June issue of Empire Magazine is on newsstands now.