Paul Mescal explains why he's 'rationing' movie roles at the height of his fame

At the height of his fame, Paul Mescal has said he’s going to start ‘rationing’ his work.

The Irishman has become one of those stars we seem to just see everywhere at the moment – and for good reason, he’s an incredible actor.

Having started off on stage, most of us first came to know Mescal when he appeared as Connell in TV hit Normal People back in 2020. And since then, the 29-year-old has appeared in the likes of Aftersun, The Lost Daughter, All of Us Strangers and Gladiator II.

But with Hamnet set to release in the next week (as rumours of award nominations are already circulating), it seems Mescal is ready for a bit of a slowdown.

With only really the Beatles biopic set to come out in the next few years, he’s hoping nobody will see him after the historical drama ‘until 2028’.

Can't believe it's been over five years since this heartbreak. (BBC)

Mescal is playing Paul McCartney in Sam Mendes’ four anthology films based on the Liverpool music legends and basically plans on staying low key until that comes out.

“I’m five or six years into this [the industry] now, and I feel very lucky. But I’m also learning that I don’t think I can go on doing it as much,” he told The Guardian.

The actor was asked if this translated to ‘rationing’ his workload and he said he ‘thinks so’.

“I’m going to have to start doing that,” Mescal said. Although, he did add that ‘rationing doesn’t necessarily mean less’.

He explains that it means understanding that films like his upcoming period romance with 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,” he continued.

“I miss being on stage, so I might have a time when I’m only doing theatre for a couple of years. I also have different priorities in my personal life that I want to attend to.”

He's about to star alongside Jessie Buckley in Hamnet. (Focus Features)

But while there’s the ‘great fear’ of what stepping back might mean for his mega career right now, Mescal says he doesn’t want to ‘resent the thing I love’.

Once his current films have finished rolling out, all the actor really has on is the Beatles biopic and the occasional filming of Merrily We Roll Along (that’s being filmed over two decades as the stars age).

So, with Hamnet currently having a big awards campaign, Mescal said: “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.”