An Indian visitor sits on a bike with the wax statue of American actor Tom Cruise at the Madame Tussauds Delhi in New Delhi, India on June 6, 2018. (Photo by Money Sharma/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.

(L-R) Actors Oscar Sinela, Luis Fernandez, Ursula Corbero, Amaia Salamanca, Maxi Iglesias and Alba Ribas attend “XP3D” premiere at the Callao cinema on December 27, 2011 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Carlos Alvarez/Getty Images)

Actor Kurt Tocci leaps for photographers at the premiere of the AMC series “The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live”, Wednesday, February 7, 2024, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/AP Photo)

Actors Rooney Mara, left, and Joaquin Phoenix arrive at the premiere of “Joker: Folie a Deux” on Monday, September 30, 2024, at TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP Photo)

French actress Sophie Marceau and Irish actor Pierce Brosnan in film “The World is Not Enough” by Michael Apted, 1999. (Photo by Keith Hamshere/Sygma via Getty Images)

The giant inflatable Rubber Duck installation by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman floats on the Parramatta River, as part of the 2014 Sydney Festival, in Western Sydney, January 10, 2014. The creation is five stories tall and five stories wide and has been seen floating in various cities around the world since 2007. (Photo by Jason Reed/Reuters)

Australia's Richie “Vas” Vaculik maneuvers past another surfer ducking under the wave during the inaugural Red Bull Cape Fear invitational surfing tournament off the shores of southern Sydney, August 31, 2014. (Photo by Jason Reed/Reuters)