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.

“Cub”. In the colony of penguins in South Georgia. (Photo and caption by Ondrej Zaruba/National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest)

ATTENTION! All pictures are presented in high resolution. To see Hi-Res images – just TWICE click on any picture. In other words, click small picture – opens the BIG picture. Click BIG picture – opens VERY BIG picture.

A sunflower “smiles” in a field in Tokyo on August 7, 2014. Some 20,000 sunflowers were enjoyed by visitors to the area this week. (Photo by Yoshikazu Tsuno/AFP Photo)

A man photographs Anila Quayyum Agha's “Intersections” art work on the first day of ArtPrize at the Grand Rapids Art Museum in Grand Rapids, Mich. on Wednesday, September 24, 2014. (Photo by Emily Rose Bennett/AP Photo/The Grand Rapids Press)

A man feeds monkeys at Longchi scenic area, in Dujiangyan, Sichuan province, China May 24, 2017. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

A visitor walks on a giant chalk artwork called “Wasting Time” at the Chalk Urban Arts Festival in Sydney on October 25, 2014. The picture is the biggest 3-D artwork created in Australia by two artists, Leon Keer from Holland and Jenny McCracken from Australia. (Photo by Peter Parks/AFP Photo)

Robot couple Xiaolan (L) and Xiaotao carry trays of food at a restaurant in Jinhua, Zhejiang province, China, May 18, 2015. The restaurant, which opened on Monday, has two robots delivering food for customers. The robots were designed as a couple, Xiaolan and Xiaotao, according to local media. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

A picture made available on 30 March 2016 shows members of the anti-terror squad of the local paramilitary force have a training in Suining, in southwest Sichuan province, China, 29 March 2016. (Photo by Zhong Min/EPA)