This photo taken on July 19, 2020 shows a security guard looking at his smartphone while water is released from the Three Gorges Dam, a gigantic hydropower project on the Yangtze river, to relieve flood pressure in Yichang, central China's Hubei province. Rising waters across central and eastern China have left over 140 people dead or missing, and floods have affected almost 24 million since the start of July, according to the ministry of emergency management. (Photo by AFP Photo/China Stringer Network)

Fireworks explode in the hands of a protester launching it at the Lebanese Central Bank building as frustrated depositors rally against Central Bank's Gov. Riad Salameh, who is facing corruption charges, and the deepening financial crisis in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, March 24, 2023. (Photo by Hassan Ammar/AP Photo)

An Indigenous woman smokes during a protest demanding a better health care system be made available in her region, including the hiring of more doctors and nurses as well as the building of more clinics, outside the Ministry of Health in Brasilia, Brazil, Wednesday, February 8, 2023. (Photo by Gustavo Moreno/AP Photo)

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 woman wears roller skates with lights on the bottom at Rich City Skate in Richton Park, Illinois, January 12, 2015. A handful of decades-old skating venues put Chicago at the center of a vibrant African-American subculture of urban roller skate dancing that stretches from Atlanta to Detroit and from Los Angeles to New York. While mainstream roller skating has been on a long decline, a new generation of skaters travel a circuit of rinks around the country to compete and show off their moves. (Photo by Jim Young/Reuters)

Group of clowns protested in the old center of Sao Paulo, Brazil on October 24, 2016. They are against false clowns scare people. They say they are clowns good and that people who dress to scare clown clowns are false. The wave of evil clowns started in the US and has spread to many countries. (Photo by Cris Faga via ZUMA Wire)

Participants wearing historical costumes ride their high-wheel bicycles during the annual penny farthing race in Prague, Czech Republic November 5, 2016. (Photo by David W. Cerny/Reuters)

A bulldog dressed as Marilyn Monroe poses for a photograph during the annual Tompkins Square Halloween Dog Parade in the Manhattan borough of New York City, October 24, 2015. (Photo by Stephanie Keith/Reuters)