“PAUL MESCAL SAID ‘OVER THE NEXT TWO YEARS, PEOPLE WILL GET A BREAK FROM ME’ — AND THEN CONFIRMED HE’LL BE PLAYING PAUL MCCARTNEY.” It sounded like a disappearance… but it was really the first step into the role everyone’s watching: The Beatles. The headline isn’t just the casting. It’s what Mescal teased next: he’ll be doing his own singing in the film. And he’s already met McCartney several times in real life—receiving “great kindness and warmth” from the very person he’s about to portray. On one side, he wants to fade from the endless promo spotlight. On the other, the McCartney role will only make that spotlight brighter than ever. And Mescal sums it up in one quiet, loaded line: “a peek behind the curtain.” But what, exactly, is that curtain hiding?

In a recent interview Paul Mescal revealed that he was looking forward to the next two years because “people will get a break from me. And I’ll get a break from them.”

The casual comment from the Irish actor, 29, immediately sparked concern among his rabid fan base (who first fell in love with him in 2020 when he appeared in the hit Hulu series Normal People) that he was taking a hiatus from acting.

“Oh, what I meant by that is that I’m excited for the period of time that will fundamentally exist where I won’t be promoting anything,” Mescal clarifies to PEOPLE.

“I would really lose my mind if I took two years off out of my job. But what I’m excited about is the concept of not being on a promotional tour for the next two years. And I think it’ll give people a welcome break from seeing my face.”

That’s highly unlikely. With his quiet intensity Mescal has quickly become one of the most compelling actors of his generation. Yet he has met fame with caution, mostly choosing roles in independent films that challenge him and allow his performances to define him as he remains fiercely protective of his private life.

Much to his chagrin, the spotlight is only growing stronger with his latest starring role as William Shakespeare in Hamnet, which has already earned Mescal his first Golden Globe nomination.

Telling the fictionalized story of Shakespeare and his wife, Agnes Hathaway, played by Jessie Buckley, and the untimely death of their young son Hamnet, the incredibly moving film appealed to Mescal not because of Shakespeare’s iconic standing. “It’s not about his genius; it’s about his artistic compulsion. That’s fascinating to me,” he says.

Despite the mounting accolades, Mescal chooses to lean away from the hype. “I don’t believe in these terms like ‘movie stars,’ ” he explains. “To be clear, I don’t even associate it to be a dirty word. I think I just want to be known as an actor, and Hollywood isn’t the center of the universe for actors.”

On his next rare day off, Mescal would love to find himself “laying down for as long as possible,” he says, laughing. “It’s something I crave at the moment, but I’m also not great at that. I struggle with not being busy.”

Good thing the actor already landed the role of Paul McCartney in the upcoming The Beatles—A Four-Film Cinematic Event and signed on to star in director Richard Linklater’s Merrily We Roll Along, which is shooting over 20 years and will premiere roughly in 2040.

Mescal, who has met McCartney several times and said the musician received him with “great kindness and warmth,” will be doing his own singing in the film. “I think it’s very much tied to the feeling that I got from playing Shakespeare,” he says. “It’s like a wild privilege to get to play these creative forces and to get a peek behind the curtain.”

While he’s still getting used to his own fevered fame, Mescal has learned that “time, probably, and consistency” are the keys to navigating it all. “The longer you’re in it, you become less shiny, which is a really good thing,” he says. “People become less interested in what you’re saying and hopefully more interested in the work you’re making.”