LOS ANGELES — Wicked Pictures is celebrating multiple nominations for the 2022 NightMoves Awards.
“Wicked is pleased to announce it has emerged as the year’s most celebrated studio with 14 major nominations,” a rep enthused.
The studio was recognized in a number of categories, including a trio of mentions for Best Feature Film: “Black Widow XXX: An Axel Braun Parody,” Seth Gamble's “Deranged” and James Avalon's “Duplicity.”
“It’s always a tremendous honor to be nominated,” said Braun, who has produced every Wicked movie since the company was acquired by Gamma in 2020. “This year is very special for me. As head of production, my goal was to raise the quality level of our output with great directors and more high-profile projects, and I couldn’t be happier with the results.”
Braun’s “Black Widow XXX” emerged as Wicked's most celebrated feature, scoring a quintet of nominations for Best Feature Film, Best Feature Director, Best Actor (Seth Gamble) and two for Best Actress (Lacy Lennon, Elena Koshka).
“Having ‘Black Widow XXX’ get more accolades, with Lacy and Elena both nommed for Best Actress, along with Kenzie Taylor for her outstanding lead role in ‘Deranged’ and James Avalon proving once again what a phenomenal director he is with his first Wicked Noir feature, ‘Duplicity,’ was fantastic. But seeing Seth up for Best Director was definitely the most exciting moment for me,” Braun added.
“Deranged was Seth’s feature directing debut, and right off the bat he showed everybody how incredibly talented he is,” he said. “I’d be the first to congratulate him if he won, even if he’d be beating me.”
Gamble declared himself “beyond honored and humbled” to nab the nomination.
“Everybody in my cast and crew gave 110% on this project,” he noted. “Kenzie delivered a mind-blowing performance and she really brought this movie to life, as did the rest of my amazing cast.”
Avalon's “Duplicity” received a quartet of top nominations for Best Feature Production, Best Feature Director and two Best Actor nods (Charles Dera, Steve Holmes).
"I'm very grateful to NightMoves for these nominations, as 'Duplicity' is a movie I have wanted to make for over a decade," he said. "I’ve been writing film noir outlines since 2008, but the feature studios I submitted them to, without exception, all passed. At one point, I decided to run them by Axel, as I'm a great admirer of his film 'The Possession of Mrs. Hyde.' He resonated with the material immediately and helped me put together a great-looking film with the perfect cast."
Online voting to determine the winners in 20 national and 18 local categories is underway and will continue through Sept. 15. For additional details about nominees and to cast a ballot, click here; follow the NightMoves Awards online and on Twitter.
Visit Wicked.com and follow the studio on Twitter.
