A woman walks past a giant Pac-Man in Tokyo's Shinjuku area, Wednesday, August 12, 2015. The three-meter (about nine feet and 10 inches)-tall Pac-Man and other video game characters, made of Lego bricks, were on display to promote the upcoming movie “Pixels”. (Photo by Ken Aragaki/AP Photo)

Actor Bryan Cranston engages Julia-Louis Dreyfus in a prolonged kiss as she takes the stage to accept the award for Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy Series for her role in HBO's “Veep” during the 66th Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles, California August 25, 2014. (Photo by Mario Anzuoni/Reuters)

An Armatix employee holds a “smart gun” by the company at the Armatix headquarters in Munich May 14, 2014. The gun is implanted with an electronic chip that allows it to be fired only if the shooter is wearing a watch that communicates with it through a radio signal. If the gun is moved more than 10 inches (25 cm) from the watch, it will not fire. A Maryland gun shop owner has dropped his plan to be the first in the United States to sell the so-called “smart gun” after a backlash that included death threats. (Photo by Michael Dalder/Reuters)

Drummers perform during rehearsals at the Bird's Nest National Stadium ahead of the IAAF Athletics World Championships in Beijing on August 20, 2015. The Athletics World Championships will be held at the stadium from August 22 to 30. (Photo by Greg Baker/AFP Photo)

Photographer Howard Schatz had an idea: place actors in a series of roles and dramatic situations to reveal the essence of their characters. Such was the premise behind his book, In Character: Actors Acting, which captures some of Hollywood’s most emotive stars in the act of, well, making faces. Luckily for us, he continued the tradition for Vanity Fair. Here are some of the best.

A vendor smokes behind a display of dog meat at a dog meat market on the day of a local dog meat festival in Yulin, Guangxi Autonomous Region, June 22, 2015. (Photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters)

A Bedouin rifleman hides behind his camel while he carefully takes aim in the Sahara desert. (Photo by Three Lions/Getty Images). Circa 1955

Venezuela: An anti-government protester wearing a Guy Fawkes mask throws a molotov cocktail at the Bolivarian National Police during clashes in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, April 17, 2014. Opposition protesters have been demonstrating against high crime, high inflation and shortages of basic goods since mid-February. (Photo by Ramon Espinosa/AP Photo)