Fashionistas pose for photographs in front of a homeless man outside Moynihan Station following a showing of the Rag & Bone Spring/Summer 2013 collection during New York Fashion Week in this September 7, 2012 file photo. (Photo by Lucas Jackson/Reuters)

Model present creations by Emilia Wickstead for Matchesfashion.com during Australian Fashion Week, May 15, 2018. (Photo by Edgar Su/Reuters)

The pedestrian zone on the banks of the “Parco della Pace” at Lake Maggiore is flooded due to flooding, on Thursday, October 24, 2019 in Locarno, Switzerland. (Photo by Samuel Golay/Ti-Press/Keystoen)

The 21-year-old UK Love Island’s star Rebecca Gormley stunned in a plunging crop top during a shopping trip in Newcastle, England on March 23, 2020. (Photo by Backgrid UK)

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.

Characters dressed as Elmo and Cookie Monster who pose for tips take a photo by request from a tourist (2nd R, black pants) in Times Square in the Manhattan borough of New York City, January 29, 2016. (Photo by Rickey Rogers/Reuters)

A model presents a creation from the Chromat collection during New York Fashion Week in New York, U.S., February 8, 2019. (Photo by Caitlin Ochs/Reuters)

Halle, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, rests after winning the Best of Opposite Sеx during the 147th Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York, U.S., May 8, 2023. (Photo by Eduardo Munoz/Reuters)