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)

A man impersonating Kim Jong-un gestures during the athletics at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium in Rio de Janeiro on August 18, 2016. (Photo by Johannes Eisele/AFP Photo)

Two women cry in grief after armed assailants in a motorcycle shot their loved one in a main thoroughfare on July 23, 2016 in Manila, Philippines. The victim was an alleged drug peddler a claim disputed by his wife and maintained her husband is nothing more than a pedicab driver plying his trade when he was shot in front of her. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte declared a war on crime and drugs after winning the presidential elections on May 9, 2016. President Duterte has recently been living up to his nickname, “The Punisher”, as Philippine police have been conducting night time drug raids on almost a daily basis. (Photo by Dondi Tawatao/Getty Images)

A woman with a snake on her body, taken in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, April 2017. A holistic therapist uses snakes to massage her clients – claiming it cures depression and even helps victims of abuse. Instead of traditional massaging techniques, Sarah Zaad uses up to six pythons and boa constrictors on brave customers who want to relax or be treated for mental disorders. The flamboyant therapist from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil believes her snakes have a magic touch, which can benefit people by massaging their bodies. (Photo by Kadeh Ferreira/Barcroft Images)

The giant metal structure sits 330ft above the ground on the roof of a 22 storey office block in Dutch capital Amsterdam on September 6, 2016. Tourists sit in a playground-style chair as they propel themselves them over the edge of the building with only thin-air between them and the ground below. Engineers spent several years designing and building the breathtaking swing. By being fixed to the top of a building it reaches new heights – dwarfing other swings around Europe but trailing behind the 1,150ft high mechanical rides at the Stratosphere Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Huub Zeeman/SWNS.com)

A group of young men use a selfie stick to take a picture of themselves in shallow waters known as the first cataract of the River Nile outside Khartoum, Sudan, May 22, 2015. In Sudan, which faces insurgences in the western region of Darfur and along its border with breakaway South Sudan, as well as double-digit inflation and high unemployment, life goes on for young people in the capital Khartoum. (Photo by Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah/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.

A plastinated body presented as a pole vaulter is exhibited at the Menschen Museum, Museum of Humans, in Berlin, August 29, 2016. The museum was caught up in a legal dispute with the district office of Berlin-Mitte for years before it was able to meet the requirements made by the court. (Photo by Sophia Kembowski/DPA Photo via Newscom)