A store staff walks past other staffs dressed up as Stormtrooper and Death Star Gunner (R) from the film “Star Wars” before launching the film's new toys at Loft Variety Store in Shibuya shopping district in Tokyo, September 3, 2015. New “Star Wars” toys and other merchandise were released in stores across Japan just after midnight local time during a global rollout of the popular products. (Photo by Toru Hanai/Reuters)

“Theyyam”. Preparation for the Theyyam performance in the surroundings of Kasaragod city. Theyyam is a popular ritual dance form of North Kerala, particularly in Kannur and Kasargod districts. The Theyyam represents a mythological, divine or heroic character. Make up of Theyyams is done by specialist. There are different types of face painting for which primarily and secondary colours are used. Therefore it is essential that the makeup man should have perfect knowledge of primary and secondary colour combinations. Sometimes, it takes several hours to paint each face. Photo location: Kasaragod, India. (Photo and caption by Rafal Ziejewski/National Geographic Photo Contest)

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 devotee gestures after being flogged by a reveler dressed as a devil during a mass celebration of the “Talciguines” of Texistepeque, El Salvador on Easter Monday, April 3, 2023. In the Nahuatl, Talciguin means “deviled men”, a traditional procession performed during Easter monday to represent the fight against the devil of the Christian prophet Jesus Christ. (Photo by Camilo Freedman/SOPA Images/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Mermaid Hales Parcells geets children as she performs at the Virginia Aquarium in Virginia Beach, Va., Monday, April 3, 2017. The Aquarium presents a mermaid show one night each week during the month of April. (Photo by Steve Helber/AP Photo)

Former Vice President Joe Biden, 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, right, watches as his wife Jill Biden, center, blocks a protester from arriving on stage during an primary night rally in the Baldwin Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, U.S., on Tuesday, March 3, 2020. The biggest day of the presidential primary calendar will define the nomination fight for Bernie Sanders and Biden and determine whether Michael Bloomberg and Elizabeth Warren have a rationale for carrying on their campaigns. (Photo by Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

A man dressed as a “Trapajon”, representing entities of nature, poses for a picture after taking part in the Vijanera Festival in Silio, northern Spain, Sunday, Jan. 6, 2013. The Vijanera masquerade, of pre-Roman origin, is the first carnival of the year in Europe symbolizing the triumph of good over evil and involving the participation of crowds of residents wearing different masks, animal skins and brightly colored clothing with its own complex function and symbolism and becoming the living example of the survival of archaic cults to nature. (Photo by Daniel Ochoa de Olza/AP Photo)

Members of the Indonesian Presidential Security Forces (Paspampres) show their skills during the simulation of a terrorist attack in Jakarta, Indonesia, 29 December 2016. According to reports in local media the Indonesian security forces have already arrested 21 terrorists suspects and fatally shot five of them, who were allegedly planning attacks in the Indonesian capital during the Christmas and New Year's Eve celebrations this year. The presentation was shown on the occasion of a visit by Indonesian President Joko Widodo and a delegation to the Paspampres headquarters in Jakarta. (Photo by Bagus Indahono/EPA)