I would like to comment on something that I saw on a website recently. I don’t go to this website that often because it is not updated regularly. That website is www.LukeisBack.com

I am a messenger and I am an observer. I look at something and I comment on it. Now, if you don’t like my comments, you need to change what I am viewing. I think that my comments are often what other people are thinking but don’t have the forum or the courage to say it. Again, these are my opinions, so if you don’t like my opinions, feel free to do something to change my opinion.

The article on Luke is Back is entitled “On The Set with Wicked Pictures for Aftermath” The article is basically a lead up to a bunch of pictures posted from the set of Aftermath. If you recall, Aftermath is a movie that we’ve been talking about a lot lately. It’s Brad Armstrong’s follow up to his last hit Underworld. We talked about this being a drastic step down from an opus like Underworld and the fact that Axel Braun is getting the bigger budgets and is moving fast up the ladder at Wicked. www.adultfyi.com/read.php?ID=60347

You know that saying a picture says a thousand words? Do you know what words these pictures from the set of Aftermath are saying to me? That Brad Armstrong will be gone from Wicked Pictures by the end of 2014.

To see how I came up with that prediction, you simply have to look at the history of Manwin and more importantly, the history of Axel Braun.

When you go to Luke is Back, you will see a collection of pictures that depict exactly what I described the movie as. A low budget movie that any half competent director in the adult business could shoot. It’s obvious that Brad Armstrong is being edged out of Wicked Pictures. When I look at these pictures, I see people in normal clothes, so there’s no Brad Armstrong costume making here. I’m seeing normal locations, something that basically looks like somebody’s house in Chatsworth and I’m looking at a car that looks like some old Ford Mustang, not a 200,000 dollar classic, with a can of soda on the hood. There’s a shot where this kid Tyler Nixon and some girl are standing next to the car in the garage talking and you can see the neighborhood. It’s clearly Chatsworth or some other suburban neighborhood in the valley. It probably belongs to a crew member or a friend of Brad’s who he offered 500 dollars to shoot at his house.

That’s it. I don’t see people with eyepatches or stilts. No kung fu, no explosions. I don’t see a goddamn thing except a Chatsworth garage with porn people in it, no costumes, no nunchuks or shooting stars. Nothing except a movie that I know Jackie St. James and Eddie Powell from New Sensations could shoot in two days. And it would be just as good, if not better than what Brad is shooting now. Jackie and Eddie are a great production team, and I’m looking at pictures of a Jackie St. James love story.

This is what’s coming out against Axel Braun’s Sleeping Beauty. Again, don’t shoot the messenger, I’m simply commenting on exactly what I’m looking at. What I’m looking at is a cheap couples romance movie. Shot in a normal run of the mill house in the valley. That’s all it is. There is not a single thing here that shows big production value. Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

There’s a shot of Brad holding the clapboard and he’s smiling. If I were him, I wouldn’t be smiling. He’s got a shitty movie to do with a shitty budget. He’s got the crap end of the movie making process and Axel Braun is the winner. Sorry Brad. I don’t mean to be harsh, but if I didn’t call this one…

I don’t care what kind of plot twists are in Aftermath, if Jessica Drake doesn’t turn into an alien with 17 tentacles coming out of her head and the neighborhood blows up and and the last part of the movie is them trying to escape a pending Armageddon in a spaceship, this movie is nothing more than a low end romance movie that any competent director in the business could shoot. End of story.

I actually feel bad for Brad. How do you get your whole life taken away because Axel Braun shows up? With his good looks, his bad ass Bentley and his awesome accent. Now you’re stuck doing low end romance movies. Mark my words, Brad will be gone by the end of 2014. Wanna bet on it, ladies and gentlemen? He will not last another year at Wicked. When I say Wicked, I mean Wicked/Manwin.

Remember, when Manwin took over Digital Playground they kept everything intact at first. But slowly but surely, they unloaded all of the properties that they got stuck with when they purchased it. Same thing with Wicked. People wanna say, “Wicked and Manwin just have an internet deal.” Bullshit. There’s more to that than Manwin just managing their internet properties. That makes no fucking sense. Orenstein’s no dummy. I’m sure he set it up to try to protect his long term employees, but there are things in that contract with time limits and outs where you will see people like Brad and Jessica gone.

Also, Axel has a history with Manwin. Axel was shooting gonzo scenes for them. Axel don’t give a fuck. Axel is a hired beast. All Axel gives a fuck about is making his fucking coin. Axel has a formula, he knows how to do it and when to do it. He’s worked for the best companies and knows how to put himself in the best positions. If you don’t think the writing’s on the wall for Brad at Wicked, you’re nuts.

Let me give you the history.

Axel Braun started at Elegant Angel. Axel Braun ended up running Elegant Angel, to the point where he was making 35mm movies. Axel Braun made hundreds of thousands of dollars while he was at Elegant Angel. It’s a fact. He went in and said I can make some movies for you Pat Collins, and before you knew it, he was the general manager of Elegant Angel. These are all facts. I’m not making this shit up.

He then went to Vivid. He started making movies and soon became head of production to the point of where Michael Bisco aka B. Skow was thrown out. Fired. Gone. Axel Braun was there at Vivid and was driving Bentleys, he’s got a 40 foot trailer. He let Marci Hirsch’s son drive his Mustang. Not an old Mustang like in Brad’s movie, but a Mustang that Axel didn’t want anymore because he’s driving Bentleys. And while he’s at Vivid, he’s also running productions at Hustler. Avatar, Glee, Dracula, all of the big productions out of Hustler, Axel Braun did them. So you tell me. Do you think Axel’s gonna go to Wicked and just be a little asshole sitting in the corner?

The proof is in the pudding. Brad Armstrong doing a little piece of shit romance movie called Aftermath. Even the Cosmopolitan article they did, Brad and Jessica were saying that their favorite movies to do were sci-fi and their last movie was a sci-fi fantasy. Now they’re shooting a low budget love story in a garage in Chatsworth.

Axel Braun is not just the best filmmaker, he’s also the best talker. He will get in the ear of whoever is running things over there and say, “Why are you paying Brad Armstrong all this money, 100 thousand a year to make a movie that I can make for half and it looks twice as good? Why are you paying Jessica Drake six figures a year and she hardly does any movies? You don’t need that.” Trust me, guys. Brad Armstrong will not be at Wicked at the end of 2014.

Aftermath is the smoking gun. Axel Braun is doing Wicked Fairy Tales and Brad is doing this shit. Are you gonna tell me Brad Armstrong wouldn’t want to be doing Wicked Fairy Tales? Are you guys insane?

Everything that is happening at Wicked is the same thing that happened at Vivid. You had B. Skow, who was the main guy and who was Steve Hirsch’s boy. That’s a fact. Then Axel Braun got there and Steve saw that Axel did everything B. Skow did, but better. He thought if I can take the money that I’m paying B. Skow and give it to Axel, I’m saving money. And that’s what happened. Because in this business, the name of the game is making money. Steve Orenstein and the powers that be are looking at Axel Braun and Brad Armstrong and saying Axel can do everything Brad can do, but better.

Let me tell you, right now Axel Braun is telling the Wicked/Manwin people, “Why are you paying Jessica Drake all this money? They say, “Because she does promotion.” And he says, “Well then, just pay her for promotion. Why do you give her a paycheck every week? She only does a couple of movies a year.”

Trust me, this is what Axel does. He is the Italian Beast. I’ve been friends with Axel for 15 years. Axel Braun’s editing team even edited some of my movies. Superheroine 3D was edited by Axel Braun’s team. I had his special effects guy work with me. I know Axel Braun. I know him better than anyone there. I know how his mind works. Plus the fact that he’s Italian and Italians are brutal.

Right now, they are setting up to get rid of Jessica and Brad. Aftermath is just the start. I’ll bet people there aren’t even talking to them as much. It’s the process of getting rid of somebody. When the writing’s on the wall, you start to distance yourself from them and you don’t talk to them as much because you’re getting ready to fire them. Axel’s telling them if you’re worrying about money why are you paying Brad Armstrong so much? So they give him a shitty movie to do because they don’t want to fire him right now. Steve Orenstein is going, “I feel bad. I don’t want to get rid of Brad. What are they gonna do? They’ll be done.” Nobody’s gonna pay them what Wicked was paying them. Nobody’s gonna give them the budgets to do what they were doing at Wicked.

Will Ryder is a great director and an award winner, but even Will Ryder has to get out there and drum up work. He has to go around the valley and hustle up shoots. Because nobody’s shooting and the people who are have very limited resources. Who the fuck is gonna pay Brad Armstrong enough to keep up his mortgage payments and live the life he’s grown accustomed to? Who is gonna pay Jessica Drake tons of money to fuck with a rubber? She’s gonna make 100 thousand a year to do 2-3 movies a year and do promotion? For who? Smash Pictures? Adam and Eve had Alexis Texas and Teagan Presley and they rid of Alexis. They’re gonna get Jessica Drake now? Vivid got rid of all of their contract girls and now they gonna bring Jessica in? Bullshit.

I would hate to be Brad Armstrong and Jessica Drake right now. I hope they have a million dollars stashed away. I really do. Because they are on borrowed time at Wicked. I was kinda goofing around before with Brad, but when I look at these pictures, I can see that they are on death row. Go to Luke is Back and take a look at the pictures from Aftermath. And Axel Braun is working on Sleeping Beauty for Wicked Fairy Tales. I’m looking at the sticks in the pictures. He’s not even using Francois Clousot. He’s using Alex Ladd and David Lord. They shoot for Jordan Septo and Adam Hasner at DreamZone making shitty two day parodies. Oh my God. And that’s gonna compete with Eli Cross and Ben Hoffman and Hollywood Heard? Christ…

How is a low budget movie shot in a Chatsworth house better than a Jordan Septo movie or an Adam Hasner DreamZone movie when it’s shot by the very same crew? A movie with no special effects, costumes, no nunchucks or kung fu. How is a boy girl movie shot in a house in the valley better than Hawkman and Hawkgirl or One Flew Over The Cuckold’s Nest?

Don’t shoot the messenger and tell me I’m a bad guy for pointing this out. I’m simply deciphering what I’m looking at here. I’m looking at the crew from Jordan Septo and DreamZone shooting a low budget boy girl movie with no special effects in a shitty Chatsworth house. How is this movie special? And how does this not show that the writing is on the wall for Brad Armstrong?

Axel Braun is making movies like Snow White with Riley Steele running through the forest and Jessica Drake as The Evil Queen. There is no way Wicked is going to continue to pay Brad and Jessica a quarter of a million dollars collectively next year. I hear through the gossip tree that Jessica owes Wicked a ton of scenes. There’s no way she’s gonna do those scenes.

It’s already starting. Eli Cross just announced he’s releasing The Pornographer through Wicked. Axel’s already starting to help Wicked/Manwin trim the fat. Eli Cross can do movies all day like Aftermath while Axel Braun sits in his trailer. Axel’s telling them, “You don’t need any of this high payroll. Me and my team, we do it all.”

Mark my words. Brad Armstrong and Jessica Drake will not be with Wicked in 2015. You can take that to the bank.

There’s a new sheriff in town and his name is Axel Fucking Braun.

Follow Rob Black on Twitter @RealRob Black Email: [email protected]