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.

Singer Katy Perry arrives at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Gala 2015 celebrating the opening of “China: Through the Looking Glass” in Manhattan, New York May 4, 2015. (Photo by Lucas Jackson/Reuters)

New York City policemen tangled with demonstrators at a subway station on the opening day of the New York World's Fair, April 22, 1964. Youths attempted to stall the train, which was headed from the city to the fairgrounds, as a form of protest on behalf of civil rights for blacks. (Photo by Charles Gorry/AP Photo)

The Hubble Space Telescope is shown following its release from the space shuttle Discovery Wednesday, February 19, 1997. The Hubble Space Telescope, one of NASA'S crowning glories, marks its 25th anniversary on Friday, April 24, 2015. With more than 1 million observations, including those of the farthest and oldest galaxies ever beholden by humanity, no man-made satellite has touched as many minds or hearts as Hubble. (Photo by AP Photo/NASA)

An Alitalia plane approaches to land as starlings fly at Fiumicino international airport in Rome October 14, 2013. Italy will have to notify a planned government-led 500-million-euro bailout of near-bankrupt airline Alitalia to EU regulators who will then assess whether the measure complies with EU state aid rules, the European Commission said on Monday. (Photo by Max Rossi /Reuters)

The Flying Bull's P-38 Lockheed Lightning N25Y / 13 – Red Bull – Flying Legends Airshow 2012 Duxford (Photo by Rob Lovesey)

American reality show contestant Courtney Stodden is caught kissing a mystery woman on the beach in Santa Monica, CA on September 16, 2016. Courtney and the mystery brunette couldn't keep their hands of each other and didn't seem to care who saw their antics as they frolicked on the sand. (Photo by Canham/Splash News)

A Russian prisoner eating bread. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images). Finland, circa 1940