Margot Robbie Explained Why She’s Taking A Break From Acting Post-Barbie

It feels like Margot Robbie has been everywhere lately, but as an actor, one place she hasn’t been is on a set. The Barbie star has been on an acting hiatus since the movie wrapped in October 2022, and she recently told Deadline that her break will continue for the foreseeable future. It turns out she thinks “everybody’s probably sick of the sight of [her] for now.”

“Her Again?”

With Barbie being the biggest movie of 2023, Robbie understands that she’s been seen, heard, and talked about a lot. “I should probably disappear from screens for a while,” she said during her Deadline interview. “Honestly, if I did another movie too soon, people would say, ‘Her again? We just did a whole summer with her. We’re over it.’”

She’s held firm and not acted in any other projects for “more than a year” now, she noted. The period without acting is her longest ever, aside from when the entertainment industry was on hold due to public health lockdowns. And so far, she has no imminent plans to step back in front of the camera.

“I don’t know what I’ll do next, but I hope it’s a little while away,” Robbie said.

A Busy Break

There’s a big caveat to Robbie’s break: It’s only her acting that’s on pause. She’s still producing projects, which she says is a “24/7” job.

“Everyone’s like, ‘Are you having a break?’ And I’m like, ‘You do know I’m a producer, right? We don’t get a break,’” she added.

Robbie’s producer credits have been growing since her work on 2017’s I, Tonya. The list includes films like Birds of Prey, Promising Young Woman, and Saltburn, among others. She recently told Variety that her production company, LuckyChap, immediately looks to “what’s next” and they try to “be original every time.”

Working Behind The Camera

Becoming a director is likely to be one of Robbie’s next steps. She told Variety that “directing is a dear ambition” of hers. So far, she hasn’t put a timeframe on when that might happen, but she feels she’s been able to get “the best master class in the world” by watching so many “brilliant directors.”

One issue that might inhibit both her directorial debut and her return to acting, though, is how much time she puts into producing. “The tricky thing is, as much as I say I’m strict about saying no as a producer, I also get so excited with all the things that I could produce that it ends up taking up all my time,” she explained to Variety.

All that excitement will give her plenty to do until fans decide they’re not sick of her on screen anymore — if any of them ever truly were.