In this photo taken on Monday, January 5, 2015, a mallard duck attempts to walk on a frozen pond in Yukon, Okla. (Photo by Steve Gooch/AP Photo/The Oklahoman)

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.

Wearing a satin and lastex top and a skirt made of fishnet Ann Evors, a Paramount player, poses for the cameramen on the beach, circa 1928. (Photo by Central Press)

This artist's scoreboard displays a fictional game between Mars and Earth, with Mars in the lead. It refers to the success rate of sending missions to Mars, both as orbiters and landers. Of the previous 39 missions targeted for Mars from around the world, 15 have been successes and 24 failures. For baseball fans, that's a batting average of .385. The United States has had 13 successes out of 18 attempts, or a “batting average” of .722. NASA's Curiosity rover, set to land on the Red Planet the evening of Aug. 5, 2012 PDT (morning of Aug. 6 EDT), will mark the United States' 19th attempt to tackle the challenge of Mars, and the world's 40th attempt. (Image by NASA/JPL-Caltech)

MTV Ex On The Beach and reality TV Star Jemma Lucy is spotted keeping herself in shape with a workout session in a park in Manchester, UK on September 2, 2016. (Photo by XposurePhotos.Com)

A person wearing a mask of Elmo walks around Times Square during the pass of the snowstorm on January 31, 2021 in New York City. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio declared a state of emergency order due to the arriving storm that's expected to wallop New York, where airports are expected to cancel the majority if their flights. (Photo by Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/VIEWpress)

Belgium. Rosalie, 9, goes to school in Brussels. “At my school we have separate toilets for girls and boys on every floor. My classroom is on the 3rd floor. We have 22 toilets, which are shared between 230 pupils and 20 adults. The teachers at school let us go to the toilet whenever we need to”. (Photo by Tim Dirven/WSUP/Panos)

Dancers from the Motionhouse company surprised London, United Kingdom passersby on September 5, 2021 with a preview of “Nobody”, which has its premiere at Sadler’s Wells on September 22. (Photo by Vicki Couchman/The Times)