Monday, Sep 24 2007 AXEL BRAUN WRAPS “FUGLY BETTYS” FOR SPICE STUDIOS. The Award-Winning director helms a hilarious parody of the popular TV show LOS ANGELES, CA --Production company Spice Studios has finished post-production on its latest feature title Fugly Bettys, a parody of the popular ABC TV show. Directed by veteran helmsman Axel Braun, the movie features Gwen Diamond, Michelle Avanti, Lucy Fire, Brooke Scott, Kacy Starr and Bella Lynn. “It’s an original Spice Studios production and very much exemplary of what Spice is trying to do with a fresh new approach to the industry, from gonzo right up to full features,” Spice Studio’s Bob Johnson told XBIZ. “That’s our plan of creating new features and distributing them to a larger audience.” The movie has not been scheduled for release yet, according to Johnson, but is one of 20 movies that Spice will produce in 2007. “We’re just letting everyone know that this is going to be big and very cool,” Johnson said. “We’re hitting a lot of buttons and that’s the story, really.” Set at the offices of a magazine called Lode, Fugly Bettys centers on a group of less-than-stunning gals yearning to get into the high fashion world. There is, thankfully, a token hot boss thrown into the mix, played by newcomer Bella Lynn. “This is my first time shooting for Spice and it was a great experience,” Braun told XBIZ. Spice approached him with the premise for the movie’s plot, Braun said, because several people at the company are fans of the TV show, and they took the concept from there. “For the past couple years I’ve been shooting six to eight movies a month, and I’ve been directing for 20 years now, so what else could I shoot that I haven’t already done? I figured ugly girls was a nice departure from my typical stuff” Braun said, jokingly. “We made them really ugly…fake braces, retarded clothes and all” Braun told AVN, referring to the female cast members “They all stay ugly during the sex scenes except for Gwen Diamond, who in a fantasy sequence transforms into a bombshell. And she's the only one that didn't complain about looking like shit.” During pre-production there was definitely some concern on set for the studs, which according to Axel turned out to be unfounded. “We were seriously worried about the male performers having to do scenes with…well, fugly girls, so I hired guys that are pretty much failsafe”, he said. “But oddly enough they were more turned on than usual! I guess when you get paid to have sex with hot girls all the time, you want something different…they got all really into it.” A standout performance was turned in by Mikey Butders playing a gay character, who is one of the main characters on the TV show. “We had a great time,” Braun said. “We had to keep re-shooting because we kept cracking up and the cameras were shaking. Mikey was fucking hilarious.” “We very much like Axel’s work and we really enjoyed doing the show”, Johnson said. “I think people are really going to love this movie.” Fugly Bettys will be available in the first quarter of 2008.