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.

Members of an Orthodox community take part in an Easter service at a church in the village of Poteryaevka, some 200 km (124 miles) southwest of the city of Barnaul in Russia's Altai region, on April 24, 2011. (Reuters/Andrei Kasprishin)

Dried and shrivelled corpses, some fully clothed and some in coffins, line the wall of a vault of the Pantheon Cemetery on the summit of Cerro del Trozado in Mexico. They were removed from the crypts because of non-payment of cemetery fees. The hot dry air stopped the bodies from rotting. Most of them were placed here between the turn of the century and WW I. (Photo by Three Lions/Getty Images). Circa 1955

Recruits who earned a place in the Motivation Platoon struggle through water and muck on their way to becoming a Marine or going into some other line of work, October 7, 1971. (Photo by Eddie Adams/AP Photo)

Various kinds of pumpkins, out of some 400 on display grown this season, are seen on sale at Franzlbauer farm in Hintersdorf, Austria, October 27, 2015. (Photo by Heinz-Peter Bader/Reuters)

Mask dancers take part in a parade during the the International Festival of Masquerade Games “Surva” in the town of Pernik, some 30 km from Sofia, Bulgaria, January 31, 2016. (Photo by Vassil Donev/EPA)

This combination picture shows some revellers wearing masks while dressed as “Botargas” during carnival celebrations in Almiruete, Spain, February 25, 2017. (Photo by Sergio Perez/Reuters)

Model Sara Sampaio shows some side boob as she arrives at Balmain Fashion Show during Paris Fashion Week in Paris, France on September 28, 2017. (Photo by Splash News and Pictures)