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.

Pope Francis greets the crowd from his popemobile in downtown Rio de Janeiro. Pope Francis touched down in Rio de Janeiro on Monday, starting his first foreign trip as pontiff and a weeklong series of events expected to attract more than a million people to a gathering of young faithful in Brazil, home to the world's largest Roman Catholic population. (Photo by Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters)

Teachers carry children away from Briarwood Elementary school after the tornado destroyed the school in south Oklahoma City. (Photo by Paul Hellstern/The Oklahoman)

Women playing in the street as the snow falls on Johannesburg for the first time in seventeen years. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images). 1st September 1962

Ariel Winter attends the 4th Annual Just Jared Summer Bash on August 13, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by JB Lacroix/Getty Images)

Men hang at the back of a truck loaded with farm produce along a road in Ikeja district in the commercial capital Lagos, Nigeria December 19, 2016. (Photo by Akintunde Akinleye/Reuters)

Elena from Dresden has her hair ruffled by the wind as she stands on a visitors' platform on the Maintower in Frankfurt am Main, western Germany, during stormy weather on February 22, 2017. (Photo by Arne Dedert/AFP Photo/DPA)

The space shuttle Atlantis lifts off from launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida May 14, 2010. (Photo by Pierre Ducharme/Reuters)