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.

In this Wednesday, September 17, 2014 photo, the sun shines over a field of sunflowers in Walkill, N.Y. (Photo by John DeSanto/AP Photo/Times Herlad-Record)

A 1949 Porsche 356 SL is displayed during the Porsche Rennsport Reunion V at Laguna Seca Raceway near Salinas, California, September 26, 2015. The three-day reunion is billed by organizers as the world's largest gathering of Porsche racecars, renowned drivers, and Porsche collector cars. (Photo by Michael Fiala/Reuters)

A couple sunbath on the beach in Ostrowo, northern Poland, July 20, 2015. Picture taken July 20, 2015. (Photo by Kacper Pempel/Reuters)

Women Wrestlers, Bolivia. Lucha libre (Bolivian wrestling) is one of the most popular sports in the country. Women wrestlers are known as cholitas and have in the last ten years become popular in the sport. Here, Carmen Rosa and Yulia la Pacena perform in a benefit show to raise money for the bathrooms of a school in La Paz, Bolivia, 26 June 2011. (Photo by Daniele Tamagni)

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)

Young man making the O.K. sign. (Photo by George Marks/Retrofile/Getty Images). Circa 1950s

British born leading lady Elizabeth Taylor feeds the pigeons in Trafalgar Square, London. (Photo by Chris Ware/Keystone/Getty Images). November 1948