The last time that Peter Lindbergh shot the Pirelli calendar, in 2002, his subjects were up-and-coming actresses of the moment, like Amy Smart, Rachel Leigh Cook, Erika Christensen, and James King. Glamorous and sexy, they all looked full of promise and undying youth. The 44th edition, titled Emotional, features Jessica Chastain, Penélope Cruz, Nicole Kidman, Rooney Mara, Helen Mirren, Julianne Moore, Lupita Nyong’o, Charlotte Rampling, Léa Seydoux, Uma Thurman, Alicia Vikander, Kate Winslet, Robin Wright, Zhang Ziyi, and Moscow State University professor Anastacia Ignatova.

The 2017 calendar “conveys personality, sensitivity and the guts to be yourself”, Peter Lindbergh explained at the international press launch of the new calendar in Paris. The German photographer has called the creation “Emotional”, emphasizing how his aim was “not shoot a calendar about perfect bodies but to capture sensitivity and emotion, laying bare the souls of the women in the images, rendering them more naked that a nude.”

A behind-the-scenes video was released with scenes of all actresses of this version, also check screen captures added in our gallery.