A man wearing a face mask to help protect from the coronavirus carries a bag of groceries as he walks by a mural depicting an iconic financial market bull statue near the central business district, Monday, April 18, 2022, in Beijing. (Photo by Andy Wong/AP Photo)

A man rides his motorcycle as the sun sets in Basra, Iraq, Monday, May 9, 2022. (Photo by Nabil al-Jurani/AP Photo)

Human wax figures to build scenes depicting traditional life in a new museum are seen in Basra, Iraq on June 12, 2023. (Photo by Mohammed Aty/Reuters)

In more “raccoons are getting more like us” news, a drunk raccoon was found in a liquor store in Virginia, US in the first decade of December 2025. The animal had got into the shop via some loose ceiling tiles, knocked bottles of spirits off the shelves, lapped up the contents and passed out in the toilets. Once it had sobered up, it was released back into the wild – no doubt with a crashing hangover. (Photo by 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.

An Indian Hindu devotee pours milk on a snake as an offering during the annual Nag Panchami festival, dedicated to the worship of snakes outside the Nagvasuki temple, in Allahabad, on July 28, 2017. Officially the snake charmers' profession is banned in India, but many in the country offered prayers and milk blessings to cobras and other deadly serpents on July 28 in an annual tribute. The 800,000 charmers and their young apprentices come to the fore for the Nag Panchami festival which dates back several centuries. (Photo by Sanjay Kanojia/AFP Photo)

Government supporters take a selfie as honor guards march after taking part in the swearing-in ceremony for Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro for a third term in Caracas, Venezuela, Friday, January 10, 2025. (Photo by Cristian Hernandez/AP Photo)

Bogdana, 17, laughs with her boyfriend, Ivan, 19, in Brovary, Ukraine, Sunday, March 20, 2022. Russian forces pushed deeper into Ukraine's besieged and battered port city of Mariupol on Saturday, where heavy fighting shut down a major steel plant and local authorities pleaded for more Western help. (Photo by Vadim Ghirda/AP Photo)