The A-list stars of The Odyssey are doing their best to promote Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster, posing for a jaw-dropping photoshoot for Elle magazine.
Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o, and Charlize Theron each posed on four separate Elle covers representing the elements: water (Hathaway), earth (Zendaya), fire (Nyong’o), and air (Theron).
The women were all styled by Law Roach and modeled in high fashion for an elaborate shoot shot by photographer Norman Jean Roy.
On Hathaway’s cover, the actress wore a Fendi bodysuit and the photo looked like it was raining.
Other photos from her shoot included her lying in a pool of water in a soaking wet Saint Laurent dress, her posing in a waterfall in a plunging Mugler dress, and her splashing around in a black Giorgio Armani bodysuit.
In an accompanying article, Hathaway talked about working with Nolan again 12 years after 2014’s Interstellar.
“I’ve worked hard over the last dozen years as a person and as an actor, so I was excited to show him what I’ve been up to,” she said.
Hathaway plays Queen Penelope of Ithaca in the film.
“We think of Penelope as a model of perseverance,” she said of her role. “But I was interested in the raw part of her. I was interested in the anger, emotion, and passion that she would have had to ride for him for those 20 years.”
Zendaya plays Athena, the goddess of wisdom, and wasn’t afraid to get dirty with the Earth theme on the magazine’s cover. The actress lay in a field wearing a textured Louis Vuitton top, her body covered in dirt.
Other photos included her posing in a Louis Vuitton coat and lace-up Le Cilla boots, and lying seductively on the ground in an Acne Studios crop top and jeans.
Zendaya said it made sense to play Athena, considering she has been described as an old soul since childhood, and attributed that to growing up spending a lot of time with her parents and grandmother. She has also been acting since she was a child.
Although they didn’t have any scenes together, the former Disney Channel star made a rare comment about co-starring in The Odyssey with longtime boyfriend Tom Holland, who played Prince Telemachus of Ithaca. She also reunited with him in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which will be released on July 31st.
“I was so proud I almost cried,” she said of seeing Holland on the set of “The Odyssey.”
“And Spider-Man was a dream. I get to go to work every day with my best friend, the person I love,” she continued. “We bring our dogs to work. It’s like a family event. We grew up watching movies. It’s like coming home.”
As for Nyong’o, her striking Elle cover features her posing in a dazzling red sequined Chanel dress as flames blaze behind her. There was also a photo of her running through fire wearing a red Sportsmax dress, and another showing off her toned figure wearing a black Chanel bra and matching briefs.
Nyong’o addressed some of the racist criticism she faced after being cast as Helen of Troy, “the face that launched a thousand ships.”
“I very much support Chris’ intentions and his version of this story,” she responded. “Our cast represents the world. I don’t spend my time coming up with defenses. Criticism is going to exist whether I engage with it or not.”
“This is a mythical story,” she also pointed out.
Theron rounds out the four covers wearing a Mugler top with blonde curls that appear to be blown in the wind.
The statuesque actress, who plays the sea nymph Calypso in The Odyssey, looked dreamy in the gray-hued photo, perfectly capturing the windy theme of the shoot.
Theron said she loved playing one of the lesser-known characters in the film.
“It gave me a chance to do things that I didn’t have a lot of opportunities to do, because she has a little bit of everything, and that’s what’s so beautiful about her,” she said. “And a lot of people cast me in this movie on their own, but they cast me completely differently.”
“What Chris gave me was a real opportunity to do something that didn’t feel like typecast,” she continued.
Theron later made an unusual comment about her daughters, Jackson, 14, and August, 11.
“They both have such big, good hearts. Not necessarily through my work, but I see that they’re thinking outside of their own box, and I think that’s good for me as a mom,” she said.
Her advice to them, she revealed, is to just be yourself.
“I think it’s much harder for girls these days than it was when I was a teenager,” she says. “When they get lost, I remind them that they are very powerful. They just need to remember that. Be there. That’s probably what I remind them every day. And unload the dishwasher.”
Nolan told Empire in November that “The Odyssey” took 91 days to shoot and “we shot over 2 million feet of film.” The star-studded cast includes Matt Damon, Robert Pattinson, Elliot Page, Jon Bernthal, and more.
The film is scheduled to be released in theaters on July 17th.
