Indian folk dancers display ornaments during a break while participating in the first night of Navratri in Gandhinagar, some 30 km from Ahmedabad, on October 13, 2015. Navratri festivities, or Dance Festival of Nine Nights, takes place between October 13-21. (Photo by Sam Panthaky/AFP Photo)

Vehicles move past a man resting on a taxi, as he waits for passengers, along a road in Karachi, Pakistan, May 5, 2015. (Photo by Akhtar Soomro/Reuters)

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 view of an installation as part of the “S.A.C.R.E.D” exhibition by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei during the 55th La Biennale of Venice, in the church of Sant'Antonin in Venice May 28, 2013. (Photo by Stefano Rellandini/Reuters)

A sign advising to pray for rain hangs above an exhibit area at the 47th Annual World Ag Expo in Tulare, February 12, 2014. About a hundred years ago, when urban water systems were being developed throughout the state, the city of Sacramento wrote protections from metering into its charter, vowing that residents would always have the right to use as much water as they needed. But on Tuesday, the state's top water regulators released a framework for enforcing California's first statewide mandatory restrictions on urban water use – cuts of 25 percent for non-agricultural users ordered last week by Democratic Governor Jerry Brown as a devastating drought enters its fourth year. (Photo by David McNew/Reuters)

American actor Tom Cruise was seen jumping from a water taxi on the set of “Mission: Impossible 7” on October 20, 2020 in Venice, Italy. (Photo by Splash News and Pictures)

Workers stir hundreds of large ceramic pots as they spend months making a traditional soy sauce on October 14, 2020. Arranged in rows, the containers can hold up to 50 litres of Ban Soy sauce. During the drawn out process the sauce is stirred every two days for two to six months. Ban Yen Nhan village in the Hung Yen Province of Vietnam is famous for its traditional and distinctive method of making the sauce. (Photo by Nguyen Quy/Solent News)

Clouds reflect off the water as they pass over while SpaceX prepares their super heavy-lift Starship SN8 rocket for a test launch this week at the company's facilities in Boca Chita, Texas, U.S. December 1, 2020. (Photo by Gene Blevins/Reuters)