After promoting Oscar favorite Hamnet, Paul Mescal wants to take a break until his 2028 Beatles movies: "People will get a break from me and I'll get a break from them"

Paul Mescal as William Shakespeare in Hamnet
(Image credit: Universal)

Paul Mescal is considering taking a break and "rationing" his career over the next couple of years – once he's finished promoting his new Oscar-favorite movie Hamnet, of course.

"Once I've finished promoting [Hamnet], I hope nobody gets to see me until 2028 when I'm doing the Beatles," he told The Guardian. "People will get a break from me and I'll get a break from them."

Mescal plays William Shakespeare in Eternals director Chloé Zhao's new movie, which follows the death of Shakespeare's young son and the events that inspired his tragedy Hamlet. Jessie Buckley plays his wife, Agnes.

"I’m five or six years into this now, and I feel very lucky. But I'm also learning that I don't think I can go on doing it as much," Mescal added. "It means learning that films like [new period romance, co-starring Josh O'Connor] The History of Sound take more out of the well. 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 theatre for a couple of years."

Entertainment Writer

I’m an Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering everything film and TV-related across the Total Film and SFX sections. I help bring you all the latest news and also the occasional feature too. I’ve previously written for publications like HuffPost and i-D after getting my NCTJ Diploma in Multimedia Journalism. 

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