A person dressed as a zombie mermaid poses for a photo as she interacts with patrons at the Haunted Hotel Takeover Halloween party at hotel Ziggy in West Hollywood, California, U.S., October 29, 2022. (Photo by Mario Anzuoni/Reuters)

Revelers enter the cold water during the annual Polar Bear Plunge on New Year's Day, Wednesday, January 1, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Andres Kudacki/AP Photo)

Italian model Vittoria Ceretti presents a creation by designer Virginie Viard as part of her Spring/Summer 2024 Women's ready-to-wear collection show for fashion house Chanel during Paris Fashion Week in Paris, France ob October 3, 2023. (Photo by Sarah Meyssonnier/Reuters)

Christian people crowd a bush taxi on a road 55km north of Bangui as they are on their way to the capital where they expect to sell some products on the market on January 19, 2014. Fresh fighting broke out in the strife-torn Central African Republic on the eve of an announcement on Sunday of the candidates seeking to become the new interim president. Sectarian violence has gripped the landlocked country after a March 2013 coup launched by the mostly Muslim Seleka rebels, and the UN has warned that the bloodshed could turn into genocide. (Photo by Eric Feferberg/AFP 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.

Looters scramble in Philipsburg, St. Maarten, Sunday September 10, 1995 for goods in the Ram's department store, which contained mostly food and liquor. No attempts are currently being made by Dutch troops on the island to stop the looting, since few relief supplies have arrived in St. Maarten, which was ravaged on Tuesday by Hurricane Luis. (Photo by John McConnico/AP Photo)

Middlesbrough star Paul Gasgoigne is confronted by streakers at The Riverside on December 6, 1998 during their match against Newcastle. (Photo by Owen Humphreys – PA Images/PA Images via Getty Images)

A utility worker clears snow by the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Alexander Garden during a snowfall in Moscow, Russia on January 28, 2021. (Photo by Vyacheslav Prokofyev/TASS)