A cat sits on the shoulder of Ukrainian serviceman Mykyta of the 93rd separate mechanized brigade at a rest house near the front line in the Donetsk region on December 25, 2023. (Photo by Thomas Peter/Reuters)

This image obtained January 31, 2017 from the US Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory showing a lava stream, pouring out of the lava tube on the sea cliff at the Kamokuna ocean entry from the Kilauea Volcano on January 29. (Photo by AFP Photo/USGS)

A worker fills a public bus with diesel as the bus driver and passengers look on, at a fuel station in Kolkata, India, February 1, 2017. (Photo by Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters)

Iraqi troops fire artillery towards Islamic State (IS) group jihadists' positions in west Mosul on March 11, 2017 during the ongoing battle to retake the city from the group. (Photo by Aris Messinis/AFP Photo)

A view of a turtle during an event at the Ministry of Environment in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, 24 June 2020. A Cambodian woman recently bought endangered Royal Turtles from local villagers and gave them to Ministry of Environment. (Photo by Kith Serey/EPA/EFE)

Syrians try to rescue a dead body under the debris of a collapsed building after Syrian and Russian army carried out an airstrike on opposition controlled residential area at Merce neighborhood of Aleppo, Syria on September 23, 2016. (Photo by Jawad al Rifai/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

Snakes hang from a wooden cabinet marked with the Chinese characters “poisonous snake”, at a snake soup shop ahead of the Spring Festival in Hong Kong January 29, 2013. (Photo by Bobby Yip/Reuters)

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.