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 dog takes a dip in the river Elbe on February 6, 2012 in Hamburg, Germany.The current cold front that has claimed over 200 lives in eastern Europe makes its way west. (Photo by Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)

These photographs are the work of urban explorer Dr Bradley Garrett who made headlines back in 2012 when he posted a series of snaps from the top of The Shard skyscraper while it was still under construction. Garrett, now a researcher at the University of Oxford, took these shots during his time with the London Consolidation Crew (LCC), a loose collection of urban explorers based in the English capital. Photo: Bradley Garrett stands on the edge of the Ritz-Carlton Chicago as lightning strikes in the distance in Chicago, US. (Photo by Bradley L. Garrett/Barcroft Media)

The Royal Castle is seen a veil of heavy winter smog in Budapest, Hungary on January 30, 2017. (Photo by Laszlo Balogh/Reuters)

People dance to celebrate Midsummer Eve during sunset at the Amager Strandpark in Copenhagen, Denmark, June 23, 2021. (Photo by Hannah McKay/Reuters)

An airplane crosses a nearly full-moon on its way to Los Angeles International Airport near Whittier, Calif., Thursday, December 24, 2015. Not since 1977 has a full moon dawned in the skies on Christmas. (Photo by Nick Ut/AP Photo)

The series of shots show the bare steel infrastructure of the Bushfield army training camp near Winchester which was in operation during World War Two and was used to train Royal Green Jackets recruits in the sixties. The spectacular images were taken by an urban explorer who wished to remain anonymous. Here: A railway siding in Wiltshire, UK where ammunition was transferred by tunnel to an underground storage facility. (Photo by MediaDrumWorld.com)

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un smiles as he attends a flight training session by female fighter pilots Jo Kum Hyang and Rim Sol in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on June 22, 2015. (Photo by Reuters/KCNA/Antara Foto)