Vladimir Putin looks at a model of the Tupolev TU-160 bomber, or Blackjack, that was presented to him on his arrival in Olenegorsk, Russia, August 16, 2005. Putin flew in the Tupolev TU-160 bomber and took part in the launch of cruise missiles in the Arctic north. (Photo by Reuters/ITAR-TASS/Presidential Press Service)

In this July 15, 2015 photo, Nepalese amputee victims Khendo Tamang, left, and Nirmala Pariyar, both 8, share a single pair of shoes at the Bir Trauma Center in Kathmandu, Nepal. After suffering serious leg wounds in Nepal's massive 2015 earthquake that killed and injured thousands, both girls were brought to the Bir Trauma Center in Kathmandu, to receive single leg amputations. Following their surgeries, Nirmala's relentless cheerfulness drew a still very depressed Khendo close and both found an inseparable friendship which has helped their emotional wounds heal. (Photo by Niranjan Shrestha/AP Photo)

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.

Local residents crowd a swimming pool during a hot weather in Suining, Sichuan province, 27 July 2008. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

Businesswoman with skirt caught in underwear. Image shot 2008, exact date unknown. (Photo by Alamy Stock Photo)

Mikhail Baburin, 66, talks to his cat Marquis at his house in the remote Siberian village of Mikhailovka, Krasnoyarsk region, Russia, December 5, 2016. Baburin, a former Navy man, barge worker and employee of a military plant in Krasnoyarsk, is the last inhabitant of Mikhailovka, which was founded in the 19th century by migrants from Russia's Mordovia region. He moved in 2000 to Mikhailovka where he was born and has lived there all alone for the last 10 years with only domestic animals. (Photo by Ilya Naymushin/Reuters)

A woman wearing a burqa begs on a street in Mazar-i-Sharif on December 22, 2021. (Photo by Mohd Rasfan/AFP Photo)