A performer dances during Salgueiro performance at the Rio de Janeiro Carnival at Sambodromo on February 26, 2017 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Photo by Raphael Dias/Getty Images)

A woman is consoled by her relative as she mourns after seeing her house getting burned during a fire that broke out in one of the houses and got spread in more adjoining houses, in a residential locality in Srinagar, November 21, 2016. (Photo by Danish Ismail/Reuters)

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.

A woman takes part in a “Brave Run” competition in Minsk October 4, 2015. (Photo by Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)

People in costume take photos during a Halloween event on October 31, 2015 in Lan Kwai Fong, Central District, Hong Kong. Halloween, a named taken from 'All Hallows' Even' falls on the day before All Saints' Day on November 1, a holiday when Christians remember their deceased loved ones. (Photo by Jerome Favre/Getty Images)

Brett Gardner #11of the New York Yankees dives into second base on the back end of an attempted double during the first inning in a MLB baseball game at Yankee Stadium on September 3, 2014 in the Bronx borough of New York City. Gardner was tagged out on the play. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images)

A member of the mainly Christian “anti-balaka” (anti-machete) militia trains in the Boeing neighbourhood of Bangui, Central African Republic, on February 24, 2014. (Photo by Fred Dufour/AFP Photo)

A country music fan cools off in the wind on the second day of the Stagecoach country music festival in Indio, California April 26, 2014. (Photo by Mike Blake/Reuters)