A member of the U.S. Secret Service looks on as Marine One carrying President Joe Biden departs from the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, on October 17, 2024. (Photo by Nathan Howard/Reuters)

TV host/blogger Louise Roe attends The Weinstein Company's Academy Awards viewing and after party in partnership with Grey Goose at TAO Los Angeles at TAO Hollywood on February 26, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rachel Murray/Getty Images for The Weinstein Company)

Cast member Charlize Theron attends the “Atomic Blonde” World Premiere at Stage Theater on July 17, 2017 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Alamy Stock Photo)

“What did I know about Chechnya before last week? For someone who grew up in the 1990s the very word Chechnya meant a string of grainy images on TV showing people in battered camouflage outfits, shooting at each other amid destruction and ruin. Fear, wahhabis, Shamil Basayev, terrorism, mountains: these were the words that used to spring to my mind when someone mentioned Chechnya”. – Maxim Shemetov. Photo: Special forces officers stand guard during a government-organised event marking Chechen language day in the centre of the Chechen capital Grozny April 25, 2013. (Photo by Maxim Shemetov/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 driver maneuvers his classic American car along a wet road as a wave crashes against the Malecon in Havana, Cuba on Thursday. Hurricane Sandy blasted across eastern Cuba as a potent Category 2 storm and headed for the Bahamas after causing at least two deaths in the Caribbean. (Photo by Ramon Espinosa/Associated Press)

Rachel Hollon of Los Angeles was body painted as Harley Quinn at Comic-Con International in San Diego, USA on Jule 20, 2017. (Photo by K.C. Alfred/San Diego Union-Tribune via ZUMA Press/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

The North Side Skull & Bone Gang stand together during the wake up call for Mardi Gras, Tuesday, February 9, 2016, in New Orleans. Their costumes are intended to represent the dead and they bring a serious message, reminding people of their mortality and the need to live a productive and good life. (Photo by Brynn Anderson/AP Photo)