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.

A campaign model demonstrates crazy eyes glasses during the International Tokyo Toy Show 2016 in Tokyo, Japan, 09 June 2016. The trade show opens to the general public on 11 and 12 June. (Photo by Christopher Jue/EPA)

Japanese college students look at cheerleaders during a job-hunting rally in Tokyo January 29, 2014. According to the rally organizers, about 1,500 students from vocational schools attend the rally to boost their morale ahead of their job hunt. (Photo by Yuya Shino/Reuters)

Lilly Caron, 8, of Bridgeton, Maine, Jason Homchick, of San Diego, and Lilly's father Jason Caron, (obscured), ride the Sky Swing at Seacoast Adventure, Thursday, July 14, 2016, in Wyndham, Maine. The 100-foot-tall swing gives riders the combined thrills of sky diving and hang gliding. (Photo by Robert F. Bukaty/AP Photo)

A Chimpanzee opens its Christmas presents at ZSL Whipsnade Zoo on December 17, 2013 in Bedfordshire, England. (Photo by Tony Margiocchi/Barcroft Media)

Here are the bravest of the brave in 2016. Weve gathered some of the finest images showing daredevils taking their lives into their own hands and going to the very brink this year. Whether they are perched hundreds of feet up on a high wire, courageously clinging to a rockface or taking on a volcano, these adventurers take the breath away. Here: Morgane Choquet and Samuel Cobb relax in a vertical campsite on the slopes of El Capitan, Yosemite National Park. (Photo by Alexandre Eggermont/Caters News)

Two life-size Victorian style dolls shocked Londoners morning December 3, 2015 as the creepy pair popped up at commuter hotspots across the capital to mark the launch of the world's first psychological theme park ride created by Derren Brown, coming to Thorpe Park Resort in 2016. (Photo by Matt Alexander/PA Wire)

The sun bear (Ursus malayanus), also known as the honey bear, is a bear found primarily in the tropical rainforest (the dense lowland forests) in Southeast Asia; North-East India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Southern China, Peninsular Malaysia, and the islands of Sumatra and Borneo.