German police officers take pictures as fireworks explode next to the Quadriga sculpture atop the Brandenburg gate during New Year celebrations in Berlin, Germany, January 1, 2017. (Photo by Fabrizio Bensch/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.

A Femen activist is led away by French police in Henin-beaumont, northern France, Sunday, May 7, 2017. Voters across France are choosing a new president in an unusually tense and important election that could decide Europe's future, making a stark choice between pro-business progressive candidate Emmanuel Macron and far-right populist Marine Le Pen. (Photo by Francois Mori/AP Photo)

Indian forest officials and police personnel try to chase away a wild male elephant at Hengrabari area in Guwahati on April 30, 2019. The elephant came down from Amchang Wildlife Sanctuary in search of food and later forest official tranquillized it, local media reported. As the pressure of population pushes human habitation closer to forests incidents of wild animals straying into cities is increasingly reported. (Photo by Biju Boro/AFP Photo)

In this Wednesday, July 20, 2016 photo, a child carries kettles through a flooded street with a woman in Tianjin, China. China says dozens of people have died or gone missing since Monday in massive floods across the country's north. (Photo by Chinatopix via AP Photo)

Revellers enjoy themselves during Hogmanay celebrations in Edinburgh, Scotland on December 31, 2017. (Photo by Russell Cheyne/Reuters)

Dancers from The Royal Ballet perform beside the Regent's Canal in London on August 30, 2020, one of three performances they put on daily on weekends to experience performing in front of a live socially-distanced audience. (Photo by Isabel Infantes/AFP Photo)

A woman walks past a mural on a wall along a street in Singapore on February 17, 2021. (Photo by Roslan Rahman/AFP Photo)