A local resident rests on a bench as Mount Bromo volcano erupts in the background in Ngadisari, Probolinggo, East Java, Indonesia January 5, 2016. (Photo by Darren Whiteside/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.

Two styles of cleaned bird's nest, Yan Zhan (L) and Su Zhan (R) await repacking at a processing plant in Kuala Lumpur, February 17, 2015. Prized in China for is alleged health benefits for hundreds of years, nests made from swiftlets' saliva are being mixed into coffee and cereal as the Southeast Asian producers of the delicacy seek to broaden its appeal, and their profit margins. The nests are among the world's most expensive foods, selling for up to $2,500 a kg and the swiftlets that weave them are indigenous to Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. (Photo by Olivia Harris/Reuters)

The 26th annual Visa Pour l’Image, the “Cannes Film Festival” of photojournalism kicks off, filling the French city of Perpignan with more than 3,000 of the world’s best photojournalists and photo editors, along with agencies from around the world. This year’s Visa Pour l’Image showcases 26 exhibitions around the city. Photo: Christians looting a Muslim shop in the “Combattants” district of Bangui. (Photo by Pierre Terdjman/Paris Match)

In this photo taken on July 19, 2014, a man looks at an excavation as an A.R.M.H., Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory, volunteer digs on the search for the body of Perfecto de Dios, in a hidden grave in Chaherrero, Spain. Across Spain, volunteer teams of archeologists, anthropologists and forensic scientists head out every year on expeditions to dig for suspected mass graves – a legacy of Spain's fascist past during the time of General Francisco Franco. (Photo by Daniel Ochoa de Olza/AP Photo)

In this October 29, 2013 photo, Daniel smokes marijuana inside his apartment where he uses a hydroponics system to grow his weed in Mexico City. “I'm not a narco, dude. I just like to smoke”, said Daniel, who spoke on condition that his last name not be used because, he said, his home-grow operation is "super-illegal" despite being for personal use only. (Photo by Eduardo Verdugo/AP Photo)

Ramoncito Campo kisses his wife Hernelie Ruazol Campo on a flooded street during a southwest monsoon that battered Manila August 8, 2012. The newly-wed couple pushed through with their scheduled wedding despite severe flooding that inundated wide areas of the capital and nearby nine provinces. (Photo by Reuters/Courtesy of Ramoncito Campo)

The coendou porcupine couple 'Joppi' (L) and 'Fletcher' nibble at a vegetables in their enclosure at the zoo in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 03 December 2015. Coendou porcupines are nocturnal rodents related to porcupines and guinea pigs and native to the rain forests of Central and South America as well as Trinidad. (Photo by Arne Dedert/EPA)