English-French actress and singer-songwriter Charlotte Gainsbourg attends the red carpet of the movie “Sundown” during the 78th Venice International Film Festival on September 05, 2021 in Venice, Italy. (Photo by Ernesto Ruscio/Getty Images)

Mary Pickford takes a picture of husband Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., who is executing a handstand on the roof of a building on December 19, 1920. (Photo by Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)

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.

James Brady and a police officer are seen lying on the ground after being shot while the suspect John Hinckley Jr. is apprehended,at right, moments after the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan, Washington, DC, March 30, 1981. (Photo by Dirck Halstead/Getty Images)

Scooby performs at halftime of the game between the TCU Horned Frogs and Texas Tech Red Raiders at Ed and Rae Schollmaier Arena in Fort Worth, Texas on January 30, 2024. (Photo by Kevin Jairaj/USA TODAY Sports)

Mario Huettenhofer, chief of the German company 3D Fab, presents his own face as 3d print during the international fairs FabCon 3.D and Rapid.Tech in Erfurt, Germany, Thursday, May 15, 2014. 130 exhibitors from all over the world present the entire world of 3D printing. The trade fairs are accompanied by specialist programs featuring 80 scientists, practitioners and trend analysts from ten countries, who will explain the latest findings, trends and applications for additive processes in industry and for 3D printing in the private sector to newcomers, experts and consumers alike. (Photo by Jens Meyer/AP Photo)

Friends outside the convention center during opening day of the annual Comic-Con International in San Diego, California, United States July 21, 2016. (Photo by WENN/SIPA Press)

Festival goers attend day one of the Parklife Festival at Heaton Park on June 9, 2018 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Mercury Press)