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 girl jumps over a campfire while celebrating Ivan Kupala Night, a traditional Slavic holiday not far from Kiev on July 6, 2013. During the celebration, originating in pagan times, people plait wreaths, jump over fires, and swim naked. (Photo by Sergei Supinsky/AFP Photo)

Street musicians with their faces covered with animal masks play to earn some money in central Vienna, Austria, November 8, 2015. (Photo by Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)

A member of a local swimming club holds a Russian national flag as he dives in at the start of a 24-hour swimming marathon near the western Siberian city of Barnaul March 29, 2014. Thirty members of the club will swim in turn during the event, held to mark Crimea becoming part of Russia, local media reported. (Photo by Andrei Kasprishin/Reuters)

Members of the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) demonstrate their skills on motor-bikes during the BSF Golden Jubilee Day celebration in New Delhi on December 1, 2015. (Photo by Money Sharma/AFP Photo)

A boy jumps over a puddle of water on the outskirts of Havana, Cuba March 21, 2016. (Photo by Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters)

A farmer harvests broccoli in the town of al-Ansariyeh south of Sidon, Lebanon March 15, 2016. (Photo by Ali Hashisho/Reuters)

Syrian rescue workers and residents help an injured woman following a reported air strike by government forces on the rebel-held neighbourhood of Haydariya in the northern city of Aleppo on April 10, 2016. (Photo by Thaer Mohammed/AFP Photo)