Paul Mescal hints at major step away from spotlight

Paul Mescal is ready to step away from the spotlight for a while.

Mescal reflected on the need of a break from work in a new interview with The Guardian.

The Irish actor, 29, has had his calendar full of movie making since his rise to fame via 2020’s Normal People. He has starred in Aftersun, Foe, All of Us Strangers, Gladiator II, Carmen, Hamnet, and The History of Sound alongside Josh O’Conor most recently.

"I’m five or six years into this now, and I feel very lucky," he said Normal People. "But I’m also learning that I don’t think I can go on doing it as much."

When asked if he planned on rationing himself from now on, he replied, "I think so. I’m gonna have to start doing that. For sure," before adding: "Rationing doesn’t necessarily mean less."

"It means learning that films like The History of Sound take more out of the well," the star explained of the toll such a film takes. "You can’t keep going back and expect to consistently deliver something you’re proud of."

"What that rationing looks like, I don’t know. I miss being on stage, so I might have a time when I’m only doing [theater] for a couple of years. I also have different priorities in my personal life that I want to attend to," he suggested.

The actor is currently promoting Hamnet, in which he plays William Shakespeare grieving the loss of his son and the subsequent creation of his famous play Hamlet.

The atcor is tipped to get an Oscar nomination for his role. After the awards campaign, he plans to stay out of the spotlight until 2028 when he will star in Sam Mendes’ The Beatles – A Four-Film Cinematic Event.

"Once I’ve finished promoting that, I hope nobody gets to see me until 2028 when I’m doing the Beatles. People will get a break from me and I’ll get a break from them," Paul Mescal shared.