England fans react as they watch a live broadcast of the Women's Euro final football match between England and Spain, at Boxpark Wembley in London on July 27, 2025. (Photo by Niklas Halle'n/AFP 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.

US marines watch the mushroom cloud from an atomic explosion rise above the Yucca flats, Nevada during a US nuclear weapons test. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images). USA, 1945

Syrian President Bashar Al Assad watches as Pope John Paul II boards his plane at Damascus airport May 8, 2001 at the end of the Pontiff's four-day visit to Syria.

Spectators are swept by huge waves while watching tides of Qiantang River at a dike on August 31, 2011 in Haining, Zhejiang Province of China. More than 20 spectators were injured by strong tides as the typhoon Nanmadol approached on Wednesday. (Photo by ChinaFotoPress/Getty Images)

A military guard observes from a watch tower at the Combinado del Este prison during a media tour in Havana, Cuba, Tuesday, April 9, 2013. Cuban authorities led foreign journalists through the maximum security prison, the largest in the Caribbean country that houses 3,000 prisoners. Cuba says they have 200 prisons across the country, including five that are maximum security. (Photo by Franklin Reyes/AP Photo)

As national soccer teams and the photographers who have been covering them start to trickle home from the Brazil World Cup, it’s time to revisit the “On the Sidelines” project. This Reuters Pictures project was billed as a chance for photographers to share “their own quirky and creative view of the World Cup”. Photo: People watch from outside as a dancer performs inside a bar in Porto Alegre June 21, 2014. In a project called “On The Sidelines” Reuters photographers share pictures showing their own quirky and creative view of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. (Photo by Marko Djurica/Reuters)

Locals watch from the beach as waves hit an Indonesian tanker that ran aground near Narathiwat in southern Thailand December 19, 2014. The tanker loaded with palm oil, previously hijacked by its crew members and then seized by Thai authorities, was anchored some 400 meters from the beach but strong wind and waves broke it free, according to local media. (Photo by Surapan Boonthanom/Reuters)