The internet has been awash with face swaps for years — here’s our contribution to the art of creating nightmares with Photoshop.

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.

Mt.Huanshan, or Mount Hua is one of the five sacred mountains in China. The other four are Taishan in Shandong, Songshan in Henan, Hengshan in Shanxi and Hengshan in Hunan.
Mt. Huashan is reputed as the most precipitous of the five.

Two Brits enjoy Saturday night in Leeds, United Kingdom in bank holiday on May 1, 2021, as number of coronavirus cases and deaths keep decreasing in the UK. The government today reported seven new coronavirus deaths and a further 1,907 infections. (Photo by Nb press ltd)

British singer and songwriter Charlotte Emma Aitchison aka Charli XCX poses in the green room for a portrait before the Sonos And Pandora Present “An Evening With Charli XCX” event at Sonos Studio on June 10, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Joe Scarnici/Getty Images for Sonos)

A tattoo artist applying ink on a girl's thigh at the 2016 Italian Tattoo Artists at the Palavela on September 17, 2016 in Turin, Italy. (Photo by Stefano Guidi/ZUMA Press/Splash News)

Nadeea Volianova the Russian Pop Star's bizarre, naked New Years “Art Installation” featuring an American flag, the named Putin and Trump in huge letters and the singer wearing a space helmet and not much else, Art Threat Gallery, Las Vegas, NV on December 29, 2016. (Photo by S_bukley/Splash News and Pictures)

A girl washes the body paint off her arm on the shore of Lake Balaton during the coinciding Strand Festival and B.My.Lake Festival in Zamardi, 110 kms southwest of Budapest, Hungary, 24 August 2016. (Photo by Zoltan Balogh/EPA)