Hospitality staff are reflected in a puddle of water as they prepare to pose for photograph in front of a giant basket decorated with replicas of flowers and fruits on display on Tiananmen Square during the opening ceremony of the 19th Party Congress in Beijing, Wednesday, October 18, 2017. Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday urged a reinvigorated Communist Party to take on a more forceful role in society and economic development to better address “grim” challenges facing the country as he opened a twice-a-decade national congress. (Photo by Andy Wong/AP Photo)

Paramilitary policemen take part in a training in Chaohu, Anhui province, China December 28, 2015. (Photo by Reuters/China Daily)

South Korean rescue members wearing chemical protective suits walk past a monster character (R) during an anti-terror drill as part of a disaster management exercise at the COEX shopping and exhibition center in Seoul on May 20, 2016. South Korea is holding its 2016 Safe Korea anti-disaster exercise this week against terrorist threats and natural disasters. (Photo by Jung Yeon-Je/AFP Photo)

Sandra Brown, 40, rides the Skyslide on the 69th and 70th floors of the U.S. Bank Tower which is attached to the OUE Skyspace LA observation deck in downtown Los Angeles, California, U.S. June 20, 2016. (Photo by Lucy Nicholson/Reuters)

Law enforcement officers clash with protesters, Wednesday, July 20, 2016, in Cleveland, during the third day of the Republican convention. (Photo by John Minchillo/AP Photo)

Nigel Lamb from Great Britain, left, leading Juan Velarde of Spain, centre, and Martin Šonka of Czech Republic in the FAI Red Bull air race, Isle of Wight, UK on August 9, 2016. (Photo by Joerg Mitter/Red Bull/Global New/PA Wire)

The 100-metre (300-foot), sword-wielding statue of “The Motherland” is seen in the National Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War in Kiev March 17, 2014. On a blustery day on the banks of the Dnieper, the statue of “The Motherland”, a Soviet hammer and sickle on her shield, towered overhead, a reminder of the common cause Ukrainians and Russians died for side by side in their millions in World War Two and which Russian President Vladimir Putin thinks Ukraine has betrayed by turning to “fascism” and the West. (Photo by Konstantin Grishin/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.