Paul Mescal would "lose [his] mind if [he] took two years off" from acting

Paul - who stars in Hamnet and in the untitled 2028 Beatles biopics - told People: "What I mean by that is that I'm excited for the period of time that will fundamentally exist where I won't be promoting anything.

"I would really lose my mind if I took two years off [from] of my job. But what I'm excited about is the concept of not being on a promotional tour for the next two years."

The star - who is playing Sir Paul McCartney, 83, in the four interconnected movies focused on The Beatles - then joked: "I think it'll give people a welcome break from seeing my face."

Mescal told The Guardian that he hopes to step out of the spotlight for some time after promoting Hamnet, while he works on The Beatles biopics.

He 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."

Elsewhere in the newspaper interview, Paul feels "very lucky" to have enjoyed the career success he has so far, but thinks he needs to cut back on his projects to stop things taking so much of an emotional toll on himself.

He said: "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."

Asked if he means rationing himself, the Aftersun actor replied: "I think so. I'm gonna have to start doing that. For sure..

"Rationing doesn't necessarily mean less. It means learning that films like 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.

"I also have different priorities in my personal life that I want to attend to."