In an interview with Deadline, Margot, who is tipped to earn an Oscar nomination for her role as Barbie, shared her plans to take a step back from acting and voiced her fears about the audience getting ‘sick’ on watching her on-screen.She said to the portal, “I also think everyone’s probably sick of the sight of me for now. I should probably disappear from screens for a while.”
She added, “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.’ I don’t know what I’ll do next, but I hope it’s a little while away.”As these comments circulated online, fans drew parallels to fellow Hollywood actress Jennifer Lawrence, who opted for a similar decision to step back from the spotlight after scoring Oscar wins and kicking off Billion dollar box office franchises. Fans noted how both actresses expressed awareness of the potential pitfalls of ‘overexposure’. However, as the discussion continued, many could not help but highlight the disheartening expectation that ‘successful female actors’ should step back to avoid becoming perceived as ‘oversaturated’ while their male counterparts continue to rake in the big bucks with multiple releases in the same year.
Jennifer Lawrence, who did not sign any film for over a year, opened up to Vanity Fair about her decision to halt her career at its peak, saying, “I just think everybody had gotten sick of me. I’d gotten sick of me. It had just gotten to a point where I couldn’t do anything right.”
Fans on social media platforms emphasized the need to recognize talent and success and to encourage female stars to continue shining in the industry.
Voicing concern over Margot feeling the need to pause her acting career, a fan wrote, “This woman made a BILLION DOLLAR movie, and made history with barbie and the narrative of people being tired of female actors after their highly successful projects is so upsetting like this woman is so majorly talented, let her be recognised for that.”
Another said, “I get so sad when women in the industry think people ‘are sick of them’ or ‘don’t want to see them on screen for a while’ when the reality is that they’ve been extremely successful and are then showcased in various media outlets.”
Notably, many pointed out that male actors in Hollywood often face less criticism for ‘oversaturation’, with actors like Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, and Timothee Chalamet continuing to take on numerous projects without facing similar concerns.
A fan explained in a detailed post, “It’s so sad to see how some variation of this quote usually comes from a successful woman. Jennifer Lawrence said it after back to back successes with Hunger Games, Silver Linings Playbook, Days of Future Past, and American Hustle. Taylor Swift said it after the success of 1989. And now Margot after Barbie.
I can applaud her hyper awareness of potential public backlash to her success (build them up enough to tear them down, etc.), and I’m not saying this doesn’t apply to men also (The Rock, Kevin Hart, and Timothee Chalamet say hi), but none of those men have felt they needed to dull their well-deserved shine.”
Another weighed in both parts of the discussion and said, “It’s so sad that in one way she’s right and she’s wrong. She’s wrong because, why should she ever have to stop doing (even for a second) what she wants to avoid overexposure. But she’s right because we’ve seen it happen with J Law, etc.”
The conversation prompted reflection on the differing expectations placed on actors based on gender.
‘Barbie’, which has grossed over a billion dollars at the box office, catapulted Robbie into a household recognition that has often proven elusive for actors of her generation.
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