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.

The Air2 (Air Squared) floating Bluetooth speaker from Axxess CE is displayed at CES Unveiled, the opening event for the media preview days at the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show, January 4, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The speaker which levitates over its own base is one of the winners for the CES Innovation Awards and is patent pending. (Photo by Robyn Beck/AFP Photo)

People are silhouetted while riding the Atmosfear double swing, which lifts riders more than 66 meters into the air while spinning at up to 70 km/h, at the Pacific National Exhibition at sunset in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Tuesday, August 31, 2021. (Photo by Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP Photo)

A man carries a woman across a river at Petit Goave where a bridge collapsed during the rains of the Hurricane Matthew, southwest of Port-au-Prince, October 5, 2016. (Photo by Hector Retamal/AFP Photo)

Christian pilgrims from Brazil embrace after they are baptized in the water of the Jordan River during a ceremony at the Yardenit baptismal site near the northern Israeli city of Tiberias October 15, 2014. (Photo by Finbarr O'Reilly/Reuters)

Dramatic thunder and lightning striking Portsmouth in Hampshire, South East England last night, July 9, 2023, captured from the Isle of Wight. (Photo by Jamie Russell/Bournemouth News)

Gifts for the homeless are handed out during Santa Bar Crawl, Oxford, England on December 5, 2017. Here: Oxford university students on a Santa-themed pub crawl. (Photo by Greg Blatchford/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A hot air balloon floats past an almost full rising moon on a warm fall evening near Encinitas, California October 5, 2014. (Photo by Mike Blake/Reuters)