Axel Braun told AVN.com that he plans to institute a new policy requiring all performers in his movies to be a minimum age of 21. Rob Black talked about it on his Friday night show. www.therobblackshow

“I’ve known Axel a long time, before he came to America to make his epic films. I first met him in Italy during the MIFED convention in 2000. Tom Byron has actually known him longer, because he worked for his father Lasse Braun, a legendary director in Italy.”

“Everyone knows I bust balls. I have no filter. But when people do good things I will call them out for it and commend them.”

“Axel Braun has come out with a new policy that we’ve been talking about on a regular basis, and it’s funny because we were actually talking about it this morning on my show. We were talking about Katie Summers and the maturity level she had at 19 is extremely different than the one she has now at 24.”

“Axel is married now with a child. His wife is younger than him. Axel knows when you’re around younger people you start thinking differently about things. When you start hitting the age of 40-45 and you’re dealing with people that are very young, you start to see that they see our business with a very different eye, and that different eye is one that we all had when we were younger.”

“If you have any heart and soul, when you get older you evolve. As you get older, you start seeing things differently. You have a mindset that is constantly evolving. When you see something and you say jeez that’s fucked up, ten years ago you would’ve said that it was fine.”

“So my friend Axel Braun has made a decision that the minimum age for any movie he does is now 21. Axel, I applaud you.”

“It’s not unexpected, because you’re talking about Axel Braun, who’s not an idiot. And you’re talking about an Italian.”

“So my good Italian friend Axel has said that no one who is under the age of 21 will be in an Axel Braun movie or any movies he directs.

Axel says this:

“After 23 years in the business I have come to strongly believe that an 18-year-old fresh out of high school has a completely different perspective on life than he or she will have three years later, and I just want to allow them enough time to make a more informed, mature decision. This may not be a popular choice, but it is a personal one, and it is what my conscience tells me to do. I simply don’t feel comfortable anymore shooting talent under 21.”

Rob continued: “We’ve been talking about this for months. It makes me feel like someone is actually listening. A director with an overwhelming power in this business is echoing the statements that I made. Axel Braun has legitimized Rob Black.”

“Of course Peter Warren tries to throw him some curveballs. Axel does an amazing thing and AVN tries to slip him up”

Reminded that arguably the two biggest stars the industry has seen in at least the last decade, Sasha Grey and James Deen, both began their porn careers at the age of 18, Braun argued, “For every Sasha Grey or James Deen, there are hundreds of kids who enter the adult industry for the wrong reasons. Sasha is a very intelligent and determined girl who used the controversy of a successful foray in porn to build a real mainstream career, which is something that nobody had ever been able to accomplish. She created a porn persona that was different from anybody we had seen before: an emo, existentialist porn star who looked like a fashion model, did explosive sex scenes and quoted Godard.”

Rob laughs and says, “I fucking love Axel. What he said is exactly what i’ve said. Sasha Grey is a hipster emo girl that every other girl from Stoya on down has tried to imitate, but no one’s been able to capture the magic of the original gimmick which is Sasha Grey. But that gimmick’s over. She didn’t make 15 million like Jenna Jameson and within 5 years she will probably be back doing porn, just like Jenna”

Axel:

“James is a completely different animal,” he continued. “A fun, sweet guy with an infectious personality whose dream since kindergarten was to become a porn star. Smart and ambitious enough to verticalize and expand within the industry, he effortlessly attracted the attention of mainstream media while remaining true to himself. The difference between them is that if Sasha could have bypassed her porn career and head straight to mainstream acclaim, she probably would have, while Deen is actually happy to keep doing what he does. They are two perfect examples of successful crossover, but rules are made looking at the bigger picture, not at the exceptions, and the big picture here is that I just want to allow young adults three extra years to consider going to college and eventually making a more mature decision.”

Asked whether he would allow that the mainstreaming of porn has mitigated the stigma attached to performing in it, and in turn made it more realistic for someone to have a rewarding life in another career afterward, Braun said, “It really depends on your definition of ‘rewarding life.’ And the stigma is always heavier on those who are less successful.”

Posed the hypothetical question of whether he would delay a shoot in order to cast a performer who was turning 21 in two days, Braun responded, “Yes, absolutely.”

“There you go,” Black said, “If that is not an intelligent motherfucker, I don’t know what is.”

“Axel nailed James Deen on the head. This is a guy who was doing blowbangs for me at Extreme at 19, a guy who idolized Tom Byron and always wanted to be a pornstar. Man, I love Axel!”

“Axel Braun can be a jerkoff. A jerkoff when he keeps you on the set for 20 hours and giving you half a pizza, but when it comes to business, making movies, knowing how to get shit done and being the number one fucking director in the goddamn game, that’s not being a jerkoff. That’s being fucking brilliant.”

“Anyone can be a jerkoff. But it’s these types of things that separate doing jerkoff stuff from being a person with ethics and a heart and actually giving a shit.”

“Trust me, I know Axel Braun, and I’ve been there when he’s been with his wife, before she was his wife and I’ve joked with him and said it’s funny because it’s like you’re teaching somebody. He goes, she’s young. You know?”

“I never understood what any of that meant, until I started hanging out with younger people and seeing what a difference it makes from the time they’re 19 to 24. Axel’s seen how the girls go from being shy and timid to hardened and professional.”

“You see a girl at 19 and Derek Hay’s saying do this, do that, and John Stagliano’s saying sit on my face and I’m going to put your feet in my mouth, and she goes, they said this was a solo anal? At 19 you say um… OK. By the time you’re in your 20’s you say no fucking way.”

“After a while it starts to wear on you and wears on your fucking soul. And it wore on Axel’s soul and i’m glad it did.”

“Axel, you’re a good man. I want you to know that. But I want more. When are you going to come out for condoms?”