In this Monday, October 8, 2018 photo, Colombia's BMX freestyle athlete Sebastian Martinez practices at the Urban Park, at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina. (Photo by Ian Walton/OIS/IOC via AP Photo)

This picture taken on February 16, 2017 in Fangshan village in China's coastal province Fujians, shows a villager performing the “eating flowers” ritual. Villagers in eastern China have a unique way of washing away the taint of evil spirits – by bathing in a shower of scorching sparks. (Photo by Johannes Eisele/AFP Photo)

Auditioning performers follow resident choreographer Erik Sorensen, center back, at the Sydney Dance Company in a routine during castings in Moulin Rouge's current show “Féerie”, in Sydney, Australia, Thursday, July 28, 2016. The show's artistic team is in Australia to choose new talent to perform with one of the most famous cabarets that has been illuminating Paris since 1889. (Photo by Rob Griffith/AP Photo)

Two women kiss as they hold up a placard that reads in Turkish: “I live free. Who's the fool who will put me in chains? I would be shocked” during the LGBTQ Pride March in Istanbul, Turkey, Sunday, June 26, 2022. Dozens of people were detained in central Istanbul Sunday after city authorities banned a LGBTQ Pride March, organisers said. (Photo by Emrah Gurel/AP Photo)

A model poses for a photographer backstage ahead of the Ferreira Couture catwalk show at Malta Fashion Week in Valletta, Malta on July 20, 2022. (Photo by Darrin Zammit Lupi/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.

Mud-covered tourists pretend to be trapped inside a mud prison at the Daecheon Beach Mud Plaza in the city of Boryeong on South Korea's west coast, July 17, as they take part in the Boryeong Mud Festival, which opened that day and runs through July 26. Boryeong mud is rich in natural mineral component and is considered to prevent skin aging. (Photo by EPA/Yonhap)

A visitor takes a photo of a boulder plastic made of synthetic material called “To be in Limbo” hangs from the ceiling of the 20 meter high Jesuit Church in Vienna, Austria, Tuesday, November 25, 2014. The eight meter high, hollow and 700 kilogram heavy sculpture from the artists group Steinbrener/Dempf and Huber is supposed to symbolize faith and its threatening moments. The installation will remain until April 19, 2015 and then move to a church in Hamburg, Germany. (Photo by Ronald Zak/AP Photo)