Each year Pirelli, the tire company, sends a big-name photographer off into the wilderness to photograph a bunch of supermodels in various states of undress miming fellatio and hugging each other for that year’s calendar. Terry Richardson shot the 2011 calendar, which comes out next month, in Brazil with top girls like Abbey Lee, Miranda Kerr, Ana Beatriz-Barros, Georgina Stojiljkovic, Lily Cole, Daisy Lowe, Eniko Mihalik, and other models who were excited about getting naked in the woods with sloths for the chance to appear in the calendar. For the girls, this is a chance to really be themselves without having to sell clothes (though they are selling tires). For Richardson, this is a chance to produce pictures that are truly “special.” In a seventeen-minute behind-the-scenes video from the shoot, you not only hear Richardson talk about his work, which is rare footage, but you also see how he works with the models, whether it’s wheeling them around naked in a wheelbarrow, growling at them, or straddling them while they’re lying in a shallow pool topless. Great fun for all involved! If you don’t have time to watch the whole NSFW video, we pulled some choice quotes.
Terry Richardson:
“People either love what I do or hate it. Those two extremes are really good.”
Richardson, having high-fived a topless Abbey Lee and taken off another model’s bikini bottoms:
“It doesn’t have to be shocking — it doesn’t have to be overtly sexual or anything, but you just want people to stop and look at the damn pictures.”
Richardson, as Abbey Lee goes from posing with a bathing suit to posing nude:
“You just let things happen organically.”
Abbey Lee, posing in nothing but purple suede ankle booties and a matching purple hat:
“I have 100 percent complete trust that they’re going to be choosing the most beautiful, tasteful photos.”
Richardson, as Eniko Mihalik poses topless with hose spraying her face:
“I’m an emotional photographer. Like, I wanted to do something really raw and just photograph all these beautiful women as they are.”
Richardson, as Ana Beatriz-Barros poses topless with a chicken, sticks her tongue out at it, and then decides to hold it against her crotch:
“I always like them to kind of explore things and improvise too — just see like what would you do in this situation, how would you react to it? And let them come up with things. It’s amazing.”
Richardson, as Lily Cole lies supine in a shallow pool, topless:
“What I like doing that is very refreshing to me is just photographing someone to see how they’re feeling that day — they could be happy, they could be sad, they’ve got things going on in their life — to just let those little moments shine through.”
Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, jumping out of a pool naked:
“I love doing shoots like this where you’re not representing a piece of clothing or a designer — you’re actually representing yourself, and that’s really exciting. It actually gives you an opportunity to give more of your soul and your heart in the picture.”
Richardson, as Abbey Lee and Marloes Horst pose together naked riding a horse:
“It’s a completely new experience for me. We’ve done some images that I’ve never done before or felt before, so it’s turning into this really kind of unique, special force of energy creating this calendar. For me, I feel something really special happening.”
Georgina Stojiljkovic, who poses topless in a crate on the beach:
“Definitely it is sexy, and definitely it is very Terry Richardson, but apart from that definitely it says something about our personalities and our characters. And then Terry gave his personal touch as you will see.”
Gracie Carvalho, who nibbles something phallic while topless:
“It’s been incredible. Even though I was partially naked and only 18 years old I’m loving it!”
Hear more — and see sloth models! — in the video.
Pirelli Calendar, The Movie [F.A.D.]