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 Naga sadhu, or naked Hindu holy man, performs a ritual inside his tent during Kumbh Mela, or Pitcher festival, at Trimbakeshwar, India, Friday, August 28, 2015. Hindus believe taking a dip in the waters of a holy river during the festival will cleanse them of their sins. The festival is held four times every 12 years. (Photo by Rajanish Kakade/AP Photo)

In this photograph taken on January 19, 2012, Indonesian schoolchildren hold on to iron cables as they cross a nearly-collapsed suspension bridge at Sanghiang Tanjung village in Indonesia's Banten province to reach their school. (Photo by Kris Aria/AFP Photo)

Children react after what activists said was shelling by forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad near the Syrian Arab Red Crescent center in the Douma neighborhood of Damascus May 6, 2015. (Photo by Bassam Khabieh/Reuters)

A Free Syrian Army fighter walks past a flag of al-Furqan brigade as a rifle hangs from a branch in the orchards of Kafar Zita in Hama countryside January 22, 2015. (Photo by Mohamad Bayoush/Reuters)

A Rohingya refugee woman is helped from a boat as she arrives exhausted on the Bangladesh side of the Naf River at Shah Porir Dwip after fleeing her village in Myanmar, on October 1, 2017 in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

“Farmer reading his farm paper”. Coryell County, Texas, September 1931. (Photo by George W. Ackerman)

P.S. All pictures are presented in high resolution. To see Hi-Res images – just TWICE click on any picture. In other words, click small picture – opens the BIG picture. Click BIG picture – opens VERY BIG picture (if available; this principle works anywhere on the site AvaxNews).

An Afghan man works at a traditional yarn factory in Heart province, Afghanistan July 28, 2015. (Photo by Mohammad Shoib/Reuters)