Children eat watermelons to meet the “beginning of autumn” at a kindergarten in Handan, China on August 7, 2015. Chinese tradition to eat watermelons or peaches before that day symbolises “biting away summer”. The solar term ‘beginning of autumn’ falls on 8 August this year. (Photo by Xinhua/REX Shutterstock)

Hundreds of people pack the Canaveral national seashore's Playalinda Beach as a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket, carrying a U.S. Navy communications satellite, lifts off from Complex 41 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Friday, June 24, 2016, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. The satellite is designed to significantly improve ground communications for U.S. forces on the move. (Photo by Craig Rubadoux/Florida Today via AP Photo)

A hippopotamus performs during a show at the circus in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, Russia, July 7, 2016. (Photo by Ilya Naymushin/Reuters)

Two female soldiers have their picture taken by an army colleague at Mangyongdae. (Photo by Gavin John/Mediadrumworld.com)

Protesters wearing masks perform during anti-austerity and anti-graft protests in Ljubljana, Slovenia, on January 11, 2013. More than 5,000 Slovenians gathered in the center of Ljubljana on Friday to protest against a corruption scandal that threatens to bring down the government. Slovenia's anti-corruption commission said earlier this week that Prime Minister Janez Jansa had been unable to explain the source of some of his income in recent years. (Photo by Srdjan Zivulovic/Reuters via The Atlantic)

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.

This picture taken on July 25, 2014 shows people cooling off in a waterpark in Suining, southwest China's Sichuan province. Meteorological departments issued an orange alert for high temperature as a heat wave embraces Sichuan province, with temperature of most area topped 37, local media reported. (Photo by AFP Photo)

Senji Nakajima sleeps with his Love Doll “Saori” at Love Hotel on June 4, 2016 in Nagano, Japan. Senji Nakajima, 61 years old, lives with his life-size “love doll” named “Saori” in his apartment in Tokyo, Japan. Nakajima, married with two children, who lives away from home for work, first started his life with Saori six years ago. (Photo by Taro Karibe/Getty Images)