Dozens of people participate in the religious pilgrimage to the National Shrine of El Rincon, in the municipality of Boyeros, in Havana, Cuba, 17 December 2018. As is customary every year, thousands of people in mass attend the shrine to pay tribute to Saint Lazarus, to whom the faithful come for personal requests and miracles. (Photo by Ernesto Mastrascusa/EPA/EFE)

Animal rights activists from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) in dinosaur costumes hold placards urging people to go vegan, ahead of Earth Day celebration, in Manila, Philippines, April 21, 2022. (Photo by Lisa Marie David/Reuters)

A boy wears a medieval helmet during a festival dedicated to the Day of Russia in St. Petersburg, Russia, Wednesday, June 12, 2024. The Day of Russia is celebrated annually on 12 June. (Photo by Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Photo)

A woman receives money at a food stand using the light of her mobile phone during a power outage affecting Caracas and other regions of the country, in Caracas, Venezuela on August 30, 2024. (Photo by Leonardo Fernandez Viloria/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.

Part made cricket bats sit in a box at the Salix Cricket Bat Company in Langley, Britain July 6, 2015. Salix Cricket Bat Company use traditional tools and techniques to make cricket bats by hand. (Photo by Neil Hall/Reuters)

Fans dressed in Spider-Man outfits gather at a promotional event for the forthcoming “Spider-Man: Homecoming” movie at the Art Science Museum in Singapore on June 7, 2017. The movie will be shown in cinemas around the world from July 5 onwards. (Photo by Toh Ting Wei/AFP Photo)

Onlookers gather around a struggling beached whale in the Yoff neighborhood of Dakar, Senegal Wednesday, May 21, 2008. Residents worked Wednesday morning to save some of the more than 80 whales that were stranded on the beach Tuesday night. This whale was successfully towed out to sea by a fishing boat, though at least 20 others lay dead on the beach by midday Wednesday. (Photo by Rebecca Blackwell/AP Photo)