Pirelli calendar 2020: Emma Watson and Kristen Stewart star as Juliet Capulet

They're two of nine women shot by Italian photographer Paolo Roversi

The full 2020 Pirelli Calendar has been released, depicting Emma Watson, Yara Shahidi and Rosalia, among others, all star as tragic Shakespearean heroine Juliet Capulet.

The newest installment of the annual calendar - which has slowly become an iconic photographic project since 1964 - is centred on the theme of “Looking for Juliet”.

Italian photographer Paolo Roversi was behind the lens for the shoot, inviting actors and singers - including his own daughter, Stella Roversi - to “interpret” the role of Juliet.

Earlier this year, behind-the-scenes shots were released of the nine women taking on the role, which include Kristen Stewart, Claire Foy and Indya Moore.

The footage included video showing the women performing excerpts from Romeo and Juliet while being shot in Paris and Verona, the Italian backdrop to the classic star-crossed romance.

Final pictures, shot in a moody gradient, show the stars in a variety of poses.

In one snap, Yara Shahidi reads a book, while in another, Kristen Stewart looks fixedly at the camera, with one foot resting on a table.

While many of the snaps show the women clothed in ordinary, contemporary fashion, others - such a picture of Emma Watson showing her bedecked in a white veil and corset dress - are more avant garde.

The women are surrounded by achromatic backgrounds, posing in gothic courtyards.

Moore, Goth and Foy all wear ornate period dresses in at least one photography, channelling the 16th century heroine, while others show them relaxed in jeans and jumpers.

It’s a deliberate stylistic choice; the conception behind the calendar is that of a director searching for “his Juliet”.

“There’s no Romeo here, there are only Juliets who show up for a casting call, respond to questions, and reveal their own version of the character before re-enacting a passage from the tragedy, in costume,” explained Roversi to American Vogue earlier this year.

“What was very moving was to see actresses of this level audition like it was their first casting. There’s something so innocent, naïve, and sincere about it that really corresponds to Juliet.”

While the project started as a "pin-up" calendar, recent years have seen it gain mainstream respect as a creative endevaour - and it celebrated for "empowering" women.

The theme of the 2019 calender was the "dreams and achievements" of four successful women, including model Gigi Hadid and ballet dancer Misty Copeland.

The Pirelli Calendar is not available for mainstream sale - instead it is given to celebrities and select Pirelli clients.