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.

“Freedom”. After the 30 years banning import large motorcycle, in 2007, the Taiwan government reopened the import licensing of the motorcycle displacement over 550 cubic centimeter. Those large bikes, which were never seen before, were strange thought and treated unequally frequently. However, those adversity will not stop those enthusiastic bike riders from chasing the road of freedom. Photo location: Taiwan. (Photo and caption by 火花 羅/National Geographic Photo Contest)

In this handout provided by Maritime New Zealand, MV Rena is battered by strong seas as it is stuck on Astrolabe Reef, on November 2, 2011 in Tauranga, New Zealand. The stricken vessel encountered a three metre swell, which led authorities to fear it may finally break up. Rena struck the reef on October 5, and has spilled 350 tonnes of oil, and almost 100 shipping containers. (Photo by Graeme Brown/Maritime New Zealand via Getty Images)

Dani tribeswoman smokes a cigarette and shows her amputated fingers in, Western New Guinea, Indonesia, August 2016. Deep in the highlands of Western New Guinea, Indonesia, lives one of the world’s most isolated tribes. Known as the Dani people, the tribe was unwittingly discovered by American philanthropist, Richard Archbold, after an expedition in 1938. (Photo by Teh Han Lin/Barcroft Images)

A woman sweeps an alleyway adorned with murals painted by artists from “Delhi Street Art” group at the Raghubir Nagar slum in New Delhi on December 2, 2019. A New Delhi slum has been given a colourful makeover thanks to a street artist collective, drawing art lovers and selfie-snappers to a rundown area that they would never normally visit. (Photo by Sajjad Hussain/AFP Photo)

An injured woman is helped by emergency workers as she lies on the sidewalk in Times Square after a speeding vehicle struck pedestrians on the sidewalk in New York City, U.S., May 18, 2017. A car plowed into a crowd of pedestrians in New York' s bustling Times Square, leaving one person dead and at least 12 other injured in what officials said was an accident. (Photo by Mike Segar/Reuters)

Tucked away in these spooky woodlands, one man has amassed a huge collection of decaying trolley cars. Once a novel mode of public transport in the likes early 20th Century New York, the hauntingly beautiful trolleys are now at one with nature – a scene that abandoned location photographer Matthew Christopher was able to discover in a location not disclosed to the public. Here: Abandoned trolley graveyard in Pennsylvania. (Photo by Matthew Christopher/Abandoned America/Caters News Agency)

The carcass of a fattened pig, winner of the “holy pig” contest, is attached to a metal frame during a sacrificial ceremony in Sanxia district, in New Taipei City, Taiwan February 1, 2017. The winner of Taiwan's “holy pig” ceremony on Thursday defended the lunar new year tradition against critics who argue the fattened animals are raised under cruel conditions. (Photo by Tyrone Siu/Reuters)