A man rides past a destroyed tank in Mesobit, Ethiopia, on December 06, 2021. (Photo by Amanuel Sileshi/AFP Photo)

A folk performer (front R) with make-up and props takes part in a “Blood Shehuo” parade, during a performance in Linyi county, Shanxi province March 21, 2015. “Shehuo” is the common name of Chinese traditional activities consisting of folk performances in northern China. The “Blood Shehuo” performers use make-up and props to re-enact scenes of horror in classic Chinese novels like Water Margin. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

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.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni (L) is welcomed by the European Parliament President Roberta Metsola ahead of a meeting at the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium, 03 November 2022. (Photo by Stephanie Lecocq/EPA/EFE/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Propaganda is a form of communication aimed towards influencing the attitude of the community toward some cause or position by presenting only one side of an argument. Propaganda statements may be partly false and partly true. Propaganda is usually repeated and dispersed over a wide variety of media in order to create the chosen result in audience attitudes. – Wiki

Balinese man dances in the middle of burn coconut husks during the fire fight ritual called Mesabatan Api on March 21, 2023 at traditional sub village of Nagi, in Gianyar, Bali, Indonesia. The mesabatan api ritual is held annually on the eve of Nyepi, the Hindu Day of Silence, the Balinese Caka New Year, and only takes place in Pakraman Nagi village in Gianyar regency, around 30 kilometers from Denpasar. (Photo by Agung Parameswara/Getty Images)

A woman holds up the Chinese national flag as people gather to watch the the launch of the Long March 5B rocket carrying China's Tianhe space station core module from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in Hainan Province, China, 29 April 2021. China launched into space the core module of its space station, marking the beginning of a series of launch missions to complete the space station by the end of next year. (Photo by Matjaz Tancic/EPA/EFE)

Waiters pose at their terrace of their restaurant rue de Buci in Paris on June 2, 2020, as cafes and restaurants reopen in France, while the country eases lockdown measures taken to curb the spread of the COVID-19 (the novel coronavirus). (Photo by Martin Bureau/AFP Photo)