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.

People are reflected in a shop window as they walk along a street in a shopping district in Tokyo, Japan June 25, 2015. (Photo by Thomas Peter/Reuters)

Unnati, 6 years old, at home with his sister Ishika, 4 years old, in the Mahamai Ka Bagh neighborhood. Unnati was born to parents contaminated by a carcinogenic and mutagenic water supply. This year marks the 31st anniversary of the 1984 Union Carbide gas tragedy that killed thousands of citizens of Bhopal within 72 hours and has gone on to claim thousands more as a result of the polluted environment. (Photo by Giles Clarke/Getty Images)

Labourers load a three-wheeled vehicle onto the back of a van at the Mercato market in Addis Ababa October 9, 2015. Addis Ababa's “Mercato” – Italian for “market” – is reputedly the biggest open-air market in Africa, lying in the west of the capital. (Photo by Tiksa Negeri/Reuters)

Lawmakers from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) and ruling AK Party (R) scuffle during a debate on a legislation to boost police powers, at the Turkish Parliament in Ankara, Turkey, February 19, 2015. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

People carry lychee for sale on a motorbike on a street in Luc Ngan, Bac Giang province, Vietnam, 22 June 2016. Lychee output in Bac Giang province is expected to reach 130,000 tonnes this year. China is still Vietnam's main lychee export market so far, buying around 60 percent of the annual crop, according to official reports. (Photo by Luong Thai Linh/EPA)

Labourers stack dried bricks inside a kiln, where they will be fired, at a brick factory on the outskirt of Sanaa, Yemen, June 1, 2016. Traditional mud brick tower houses have always been a source of pride to Yemenis, and over a year into a devastating civil war, they are also providing some much-needed jobs in the ancient capital Sanaa. (Photo by Mohamed al-Sayaghi/Reuters)

Idols of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, are transported to places of worship on the first day of the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India, September 5, 2016. (Photo by Danish Siddiqui/Reuters)