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.

Customers try out the the new iPad2 shortly after it went on sale at the Fifth Avenue Apple store March 11, 2011 in New York City. The iPad 2 became available at 4:00 a.m. Eastern time for online purchase and at 5:00 p.m. today in over 10,000 retail locations.

Girls hold hands as they help each other wade through a flooded street after the passing of Hurricane Matthew in Les Cayes, Haiti, Thursday, October 6, 2016. Two days after the storm rampaged across the country's remote southwestern peninsula, authorities and aid workers still lack a clear picture of what they fear is the country's biggest disaster in years. (Photo by Dieu Nalio Chery/AP Photo)

British singer and songwriter Charlotte Emma Aitchison aka Charli XCX poses in the green room for a portrait before the Sonos And Pandora Present “An Evening With Charli XCX” event at Sonos Studio on June 10, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Joe Scarnici/Getty Images for Sonos)

A Lebanese man carries an injured woman away from the site of a car bomb explosion in a Shiite area and stronghold of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah at the southern suburb of Beirut, Thursday January 2, 2014. A large explosion has rocked a stronghold of the Shiite Hezbollah group in the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital. (Photo by Hussein Malla/AP Photo)

Children feed a giraffe at Pairi Daiza wildlife park, a zoo and botanical garden in Brugelette, Belgium, May 25, 2015. (Photo by Francois Lenoir/Reuters)

A tattoo artist applying ink on a girl's thigh at the 2016 Italian Tattoo Artists at the Palavela on September 17, 2016 in Turin, Italy. (Photo by Stefano Guidi/ZUMA Press/Splash News)

Nadeea Volianova the Russian Pop Star's bizarre, naked New Years “Art Installation” featuring an American flag, the named Putin and Trump in huge letters and the singer wearing a space helmet and not much else, Art Threat Gallery, Las Vegas, NV on December 29, 2016. (Photo by S_bukley/Splash News and Pictures)