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.

An Emirati child plays with an airplane model near the venue of the Mazayin Dhafra Camel Festival, on December 20, 2012 near the city of Madinat Zayed, 150 kms west of Abu Dhabi. The festival, which attracts participants from around the Gulf region, includes a camel beauty contest, a display of UAE handcrafts and other activities aimed at promoting the country's folklore. (Photo by Karim Sahib/AFP Photo)

This photo provided by Steamboat Ski Resort shows hot air balloons that visitors can tour in above the town and mountains in Steamboat Springs, Colo. Wild West Adventures offer continental breakfast, champagne ceremony with flight certificates and courtesy pick-up are included. (Photo by Larry Pierce/AP Photo/Steamboat Ski Resort)

A year after hundreds of thousands of migrants and refugees snaked their way across southeastern Europe and onto television screens worldwide, the roads through the Balkans are now clear, depriving an arguably worsening tragedy of its poignant visibility. Reuters photographer, Antonio Bronic revisiting the people-packed locations where he and his colleagues captured last year's diaspora, found empty roads, unencumbered railway tracks and bucolic countryside. (Photo by Antonio Bronic/Reuters)

In this handout photo provided by Warner Brothers Pictures and Village Roadshow Pictures, Tom Cruise plays Lieutenant Colonel Bill Cage, a soldier who replays his last day while trying to fight aliens, in director Doug Liman's “All You Need Is Kill”. The film is set to premiere on March 14, 2014. (Photo by David James/Warner Brothers Pictures)

A motorcyclist performs the superman stunt on a highway in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, September 14, 2014. Crowds of small motorbikes ridden by racers – or “Mat Rempit”, as they are known in Malaysian slang – face off in impromptu races in the Malaysian capital after dark. The decades-old culture is widely frowned upon by largely conservative Malaysians, who fear its potential to encourage gambling, drug abuse, snatch thefts and sexual promiscuity. (Photo by Olivia Harris/Reuters)

A view of a stampede is seen during a New Year's celebration on the Bund, a waterfront area in central Shanghai, December 31, 2014. The stampede killed at least 35 people and injured 43 during New Year's Eve celebrations in Shanghai, on the city's famed waterfront tourist strip known as the Bund, authorities said. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

Radio City Music Hall Rockettes perform after days of rehearsal and routine polished to perfection at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City on July 26, 1949. (Photo by Ivan Dmitri/Getty Images)