A 16-foot- ( almost 5 meters ) tall hand sculpture named Quasi stands perched on its fingertips atop the roof of an art gallery in Wellington, New Zealand, Wednesday, October 30, 2024. (Photo by Charlotte Graham-McLay/AP Photo)

荻野目洋子 (Yōko Oginome) – ダンシング・ヒーロー (Dancing Hero (Eat You Up)) New Dance Version

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.

Photographer Patrick Halls likes to make the people he takes photos of uncomfortable in order to “capture a real emotion”. It is no wonder that for his latest project, he decided to stun his subjects with a taser.