The camera rolls as actors dressed as historical Chinese soldiers act as though they have been hit by artillery, during filming of “The Last Prince” television series on location near Hengdian World Studios near Hengdian July 24, 2015. Hundreds of well-trained actors and other professionals are available at the Hengdian World Studios. The well-organised team coordinate complicated battle scenes to satisfy the huge appetite for productions about the war against Japan. (Photo by Damir Sagolj/Reuters)

Protesters take part in “Artists Take Fight Against Police Murders” in New York's Times Square August 13, 2015. (Photo by Brendan McDermid/Reuters)

North Koreans who signed up to join the army train in the midst of political tension with South Korea, in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang August 23, 2015. Top aides to the leaders of North and South Korea resumed talks on Sunday after negotiating through the night in a bid to ease tensions involving an exchange of artillery fire that brought the peninsula to the brink of armed conflict. (Photo by Reuters/KCNA)

A tearful Beatle lover pleads unsuccessfully with a policeman to carry her fan button to Ringo, one of the four mop-top singers who drew squeals and shrieks from more than 30,000 spectators at two Indiana State Fair shows in Indianapolis on September 4, 1964. (Photo by Bob Daugherty/AP Photo)

A woman wears false flag eyelashes during the St Patrick's day parade through Dublin city centre on St Patrick's day, on March 17, 2013. (Photo by Julien Behal/PA Wire)

Student protestors, including one girl with a camera, struggle with soldiers from the Chinese Army, the PLA. Tiananmen Square, 1989. (Photo by Jeff Widener/Associated Press)

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.