A racegoer enjoy the atmosphere following 2016 Derby Day at Flemington Racecourse on October 29, 2016 in Melbourne, Australia. Women attendees weren’t afraid to show off some skin as the warm summer weather arrived in Australia. (Photo by Splash News and Pictures)

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.

“Red Land: Sunset Cloud Village is one of the most picturesque places in Red Land, China. As its name indicates, it's best to see before sunset. The reddish brown soil turns redder after rainfall and after farmers plow the land”. (Photo and comment by Peng Jiang/National Geographic Photo Contest via The Atlantic)

A wheelbarrow loaded with two butchered pigs is seen at La Saline slaughterhouse in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, March 19, 2015. Reuters photographer Andres Martinez Casares: “The grunts of a pig or the bleating of a goat are one thing. Then there's the sound of animals about to be killed. That's something else. If you haven't heard that before, it's quite something... (Photo by Andres Martinez Casares/Reuters)

Negin Ekhpulwak, leader of the Zohra orchestra, an ensemble of 35 women, practises on a piano at Afghanistan's National Institute of Music, in Kabul, Afghanistan April 9, 2016. Playing instruments was banned under Taliban rule in Afghanistan, and even today, many conservative Muslims frown on most forms of music. Living in an orphanage in the capital, Kabul, 19-year-old Negin Ikhpolwak leads an ensemble of 35 women that plays both Western and Afghan musical instruments. In a country notorious internationally for harsh restrictions on women in most areas of life, Negin's story highlights a double challenge. (Photo by Ahmad Masood/Reuters)

A South Sudanese model applies make-up during the Festival of Fashion and Arts for Peace in Juba August 9, 2014. (Photo by Andreea Campeanu/Reuters)

Miesha Tate, UFC women's bantaweight shows the media how to fight during a UFC press conference at Akasaka Garden City on August 26, 2014 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Atsushi Tomura/Getty Images)

Bride Yulia Tagil sits on the backseat of a bike as she arrives for her alternative wedding ceremony on a square in Tel Aviv July 25, 2010. The alternative wedding ceremony was intended to demonstrate against the current situation in Israel, where the only way for Jews to get married by law is through the Chief Rabbinate. (Photo by Nir Elias/Reuters)