Two keepers at the Australian Reptile Park in New South Wales struggle with Leonardo, an alligator snapping turtle weighing 45 kilos at the park in Gosford, NSW 2 July 2015. The 50cm long Leonardo – who was smuggled illegally into Australia and found in a Sydney sewer in November 2000 – was removed from his tank for an annual health check. And as a gesture to onlooking press photographers demonstrated his strength by snapping a piece of bamboo in half. (Photo by EPA/HO)

Joy Corrigan attending the “BlacKkKlansman” premiere during the 71 st Cannes Film Festival at the Palais des Festivals on May 14, 2018 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Stephane Mahe/Reuters)

Police officers escort people from inside the shopping center as they respond to a shooting at the Olympia Einkaufzentrum (OEZ) at July 22, 2016 in Munich, Germany. According to reports, several people have been killed and an unknown number injured in a shooting at a shopping centre in the north-western Moosach district in Munich. Police are hunting the attacker or attackers who are thought to be still at large. (Photo by Joerg Koch/Getty Images)

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 pro-democracy demonstrator fights with a Soviet soldier on top of a tank parked in front of the Russian Federation building on August 19, 1991, after a coup toppled Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev. The same day, thousands in Moscow, Leningrad, and other cities answered Russian Republic President Boris Yeltsin's call to raise barricades against tanks and troops. (Dima Tanin/AFP/Getty Images)

Children of Indian laborers play on make-shift swings in Amritsar, India, May 12, 2015. (Photo by Narinder Nanu/AFP Photo)

No. 10: Sphynx. A suede-like coat is the sphynx's most unmistakable feature, but he's also curious, smart and a clown who craves applause for his antics. In fact, he loves attention so much that you may want to consider getting him a fellow sphynx playmate. (Photo by Quentin Descotte)