Men carry a dog on an inflated tube as they wade through floodwaters at Kongba in Imphal East on June 3, 2025. Flash floods and landslides after torrential monsoon rain over the last two days killed at least 30 people in India's northeast, officials said on June 1. (Photo by AFP Photo/Stringer)

Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) looks through a window of a research bathyscaphe while submerging into the waters of the Black Sea as he takes part in an expedition near Sevastopol, Crimea, August 18, 2015. (Photo by Alexei Nikolsky/Reuters/RIA Novosti/Kremlin)

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.

Russians play accordions as they walk near the building of the Federal Security Service (FSB, Soviet KGB successor) in Lubyanskaya Square to mark May Day in Moscow, Russia, Sunday, May 1, 2016. As in Soviet times, about one hundred thousand of cheerful workers paraded across Red Square despite a chilly rain, but instead of red flags with the Communist hammer and sickle, they waved the blue flags of the dominant Kremlin party and the Russian tricolor. (Photo by Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP Photo)

Breath of an Arctic fox by Marco Gaiotti, Italy. Marco was watching this little Arctic fox as it incessantly called another nearby. Gradually he noticed the fox’s wet breath was quickly freezing in the air after each call. It was late winter in Spitsbergen, Svalbard, and the air was -35C (-31F). Photographing Arctic foxes is often frustrating, as they are normally running around fast in search of food, but this one was very relaxed and let Marco get close enough to focus on it, with the light glowing perfectly in the background. (Photo by Marco Gaiotti/Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2021)

A sеxy model poses for photos during the 2016 Guangzhou Sеx Culture Festival in Guangzhou city, south China' s Guangdong province on November 10, 2016. The festival has featured the latest developments and technologies of Adult toys and reproductive health products in the country. (Photo by Asia Wire)

An Indian resident assists a dog as he wades through floodwaters in Ahmedabad on July 30, 2014. Rains lashed Ahmedabad and many regions of India's western Gujarat state, wth the Indian Metrological Department warning of heavy rains for the next 48 hours. (Photo by Sam Panthaky/AFP Photo)