Photo: Lenne Chai
Jennifer Coolidgehas already been crowned this year’s red carpet superhero — and now she’s really leaning into the role.
The actress is living out many people’s childhood fantasy on the new cover ofWmagazine. TheWhite Lotusstar is the newest and final cover star of the magazine’s Directors Issue Volume 2 — and it is safe to say the outlet closed it out with a BANG! POW! BOOM! ZAP!
Lenne Chai
Tokusatsu is a Japanese style of live-action cinema that is campy, over the top and full of practical effects — elements that were central to the cover shoot. The aesthetic and cinematographic style is behind the work ofGodzilla,MothraandGiant Roboand has inspired American shows likePower Rangersand now this iconic imagery.
For her photos, Coolidge dressed in a variety of costume-like pieces, including a lime green coat with sequin polka dots and a dress with a comedically oversized bow.
When asked why they chose to go for aGodzilla-like design for the shoot, Kwan opened up about the humanness of tokusatsu style and how it is more impressive to him than digitally rendered art.
He told the outlet, “Tokusatsu is so well done, but the special effects are always kind of handmade. If you look at the stuff from the ’60s, you can feel the fingerprint. You can tell there’s somebody inside the costume. There’s something very charming about that, especially nowadays, when you can create anything digitally and nothing impresses you anymore.”
Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free weekly newsletterto get the biggest news of the week delivered to your inbox every Friday.
When Coolidge arrived at the set and saw she would be electrocuting monsters, taking cities down and wielding larger-than-life swords, she was surprised to say the least. She opened up in the cover story about how much of a breath of fresh air the shoot was and how it was “one of the best things I have ever been involved in.”
“The film business tires people out,” she shared. “But I swear to god, I felt like I was getting together with little kids. They were like these sort of child prodigies who are super, super smart and just super creative.”
Opening up more about what the shoot means to her, Coolidge said, “I’ve never been asked to do a shoot like this: I have weapons, take down small cities, pick up cars and throw them. I don’t know if I will ever be this surprised again. It was one of the best things I have ever been involved in.”
The breath of fresh air and the surprise of it all were precisely what the directors were aiming for.
“There is so much pressure aroundEverything Everywhere All at Once, so our impulse for this shoot was to do the opposite,” Scheinert said. “Not only do I really just want to dress up as a monster—I want to get our friends together, play with cardboard props, and go out to the desert.”
source: people.com
