A group of scantily-clad women pose for photographs at the annual Venus erotic trade fair in Berlin, Germany on 12 October 2017. Venus Berlin is among the largest international erotic trade fairs, with more then 250 exhibitions from 40 countries and 30,000 visitors. (Photo by Alamy Live News)

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 image produced by the Hubble telescope of the perfectly “edge-on” galaxy, or NGC 4013, March 1, 2001. This new Hubble picture reveals, with great detail, huge clouds of dust and gas extending along, as well as far above, the galaxy's main disk. NGC 4013 is a spiral galaxy, similar to the Milky Way, lying some 55 million light-years from Earth in the direction of the constellation Ursa Major. Viewed face-on, it would look like a nearly circular pinwheel, but NGC 4013 happens to be seen edge-on from our vantage point. Even at 55 million light-years, the galaxy is larger than Hubble's field of view, and the image shows only a little more than half of the object, albeit with unprecedented detail. (Photo Courtesy of NASA/Newsmakers)

“The Wii U is an upcoming home video game console by Nintendo, and the direct successor to the Wii. The system is expected to be released in 2012 and was unveiled during Nintendo's press conference at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2011 on June 7, 2011. The Wii U is the first Nintendo console to produce 1080p high-definition graphics, and features a new controller with an embedded touchscreen. The controller allows a player to continue a gaming session by displaying the game even when the television is off. The system will be fully backwards compatible with Wii, and Wii U games can support compatibility with Wii peripherals, such as the Wii Remote and Wii Balance Board”. – Wikipedia

Photo: The new Nintendo game console Wii U is displayed at the Nintendo booth during the Electronic Entertainment Expo on June 7, 2011 in Los Angeles, California. The Wii U will have HD graphics, a controller with a 6.2 inch touchscreen and be compatible with all other Wii accessories. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

Rajesh Babu, a police officer, wearing a helmet depicting coronavirus, requests a commuter to stay at home during a 21-day nationwide lockdown to limit the spreading of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Chennai, India, March 28, 2020. (Photo by P. Ravikumar/Reuters)

Belgium's Crown Princess Elisabeth, center, marches past the Royal tribune with cadets of the military school during the National Day parade in Brussels, Wednesday, July 21, 2021. Belgium celebrates its National Day on Wednesday in a scaled down version due to coronavirus, COVID-19 measures. (Photo by Olivier Matthys/AP Photo)

A zookeeper wearing orangutan costume tries to escape while zookeepers hold up a net in an attempt to capture it during an Escaped Animal Drill at Tama Zoological Park in Tokyo, Japan on February 22, 2019. The annual escape drill is held to train zookeepers what to do in the event of an animal escape. This year a member of staff wearing an orangutan costume was captured and subdued with large nets, sticks and tranquilizer guns to make sure the orangutan did not get away. (Photo by Rodrigo Reyes Marin/ZUMA Wire/Alamy Live News)

Firefighters work to put out flames during a wildfire in Sokcho, South Korea, April 5, 2019. South Korea grappled with the massive blaze that roared through forests and cities along the eastern coast, declaring a national emergency and mobilizing all available resources to bring the inferno under control. (Photo by Yonhap via Reuters)