The British alternative rock duo Nova Twins perform on day three of the 2024 Shaky Knees music festival in Atlanta, US on May 5, 2024. (Photo by John D. Shearer/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Shoes worn by cosplayer dressed as Elizabeth Goddess during the Otamatsuri Anime x Manga convention held in Nairobi, Kenya on August 24, 2023. (Photo by Sarah Waiswa/The Guardian)

Lindsay Heimbach goes airborne while sledding down a hill on Mt. Lemmon December 27, 2008. (Photo by James Gregg/Arizona Daily Star)

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.

Jason Garcia poses as The Joker from Batman at the 2015 Comic-Con International in San Diego, California, July 9, 2015. (Photo by Sandy Huffaker/Reuters)

A Chinese vendor wears a rooster hat as he smokes a cigarette at his souvenir stall at a fair at Temple of Earth, on the eve of Chinese New Year February 8, 2005 in Beijing, China. Chinese started February 8, to celebrate the New Year of the Rooster. (Photo by Andrew Wong/Getty Images)

A dramatic sunset acts as a backdrop to Stonehenge on November 20, 2008 in Stonehenge, England. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)