A cooling tower is seen under mechanical demolition in Binzhou, Shandong Province, China, July 13, 2016. (Photo by Reuters/China Daily)

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 rail worker fixing a fog warning notice at South Woodford Railway Station in Essex. (Photo by H. F. Davis/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images). 20th October 1938

American singer-songwriter Olivia Rodrigo takes in the outdoors in the last decade of November 2023. (Photo by Oliviarodrigo/Instagram)

Model Joanna Krupa seen out and about leaving Craigs restaurant on April 21, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Splash News and Pictures)

Syrian refugees sit behind barbed wire as they wait to cross into Macedonia at the Greek-Macedonian border, near the village of Idomeni, August 21, 2015. (Photo by Yannis Behrakis/Reuters)

Actor Candis Cayne performs at John Varvatos + OUT Support the Gay Men's Chorus of LA on September 29, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for John Varvatos)

A picture taken on March 9, 2017, shows a boy playing with a cat next to a 1948 Buick parked outside the home of Mohammad Mohiedine Anis in the formerly rebel-held al-Shaar neighbourhood. (Photo by Joseph Eid/AFP Photo)