Sometimes you have to know when it’s good to stop, and Rachel McAdams has been very aware of this throughout her career, as she decided to take several steps back and refuse to appear in big Hollywood productions to prioritize her mental health, as she told Bustle in an interview.
“Taking a break really helped me feel empowered. It helped me feel like I was regaining some control. And I think it allowed me to enter through a different door,” the celebrity commented.
And although there are moments when she feels regret for her decision because she knows that, at the time, she could have been the most talked-about artist in the world, when she realizes the good things that happened along the way, that feeling simply stops overwhelming her.
The Projects Rachel McAdams Turned Her Back On
McAdams achieved worldwide fame in the early 2000s thanks to productions like Mean Girls and The Notebook, both critically acclaimed works and loved by her fans, even winning several awards such as the MTV Movie Awards and the People’s Choice Awards.
However, other productions would have been very different from what we remember them to be if the star had not turned her back on them, such as The Devil Wears Prada, 007: Casino Royale, Mission: Impossible III, Iron Man, and Get Smart, in roles that were secured by her fellow actresses Eva Green, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Anne Hathaway.
McAdams knew that, no matter how much she wanted to be part of those projects, the most important thing in her life has always been her well-being, so she does not regret the pauses she has taken in her career to focus on herself and find her way.
“I felt guilty for not capitalizing on the opportunity that was being given to me because I knew I was in a very fortunate place. But I also knew that they didn’t fit my personality and what I needed to stay sane. There were definitely some anxious moments where I wondered if I was throwing it all away and why I was doing that. It took me years to understand what I was intuitively doing,” she pointed out.
And although she did not achieve the fame that those movies could have given her career, it has not been without successes, as in 2015, she was nominated for an Oscar for her role in Spotlight, and she has had a recurring role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Christine Palmer.
McAdams’ Future in Film and the Mean Girls Reboot
Currently, she is promoting her next film, the drama-comedy Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, based on the book of the same name by Judy Blume, in which she will play Barbara, the protagonist’s mother.
The film follows Margaret Simon (Abby Ryder Fortson), a sixth-grade elementary school student who moves from New York to the suburbs of New Jersey with her family due to personal circumstances. And while she tries to adapt to her new life, she also seeks her religious identity, as one of her parents is Christian and the other is Jewish.
Sadly, for the artist, there are some roles from her past that are simply left behind, including the iconic Regina George, who will return to the big screen in a few years for a film adaptation of the musical inspired by Mean Girls.
McAdams feels that she would have nothing to do in that new story, although negotiations have already begun with her co-stars from the original film to make a cameo: Lindsay Lohan, Amanda Seyfried, and Lacey Chabert, although she has decided to leave the door open in case something good could happen.
“I don’t see a way for us to fit in there. But if Tina (Fey, the creator of the story) can figure it out, I’ll definitely be there,” she said.
Story originally written in Spanish by Alejandro Vizzuet in Cultura Colectiva.