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Ryan Gosling at the premiere of 'The Ides Of March' on Sept. 27, 2011, in Beverly Hills, Calif.
Ryan Gosling apparently didn’t get the memo that his fans can’t get enough of him. In the course of the usual promotion around his upcoming films—The Place Beyond the Pines (Mar. 29) and Only God Forgives (May date TBA)—the actor did an interview with the Associated Press’ Jake Coyle, in which he announced that he’s planning to hit pause on his on-screen career:

“I’ve been doing it too much,” he says of acting. “I’ve lost perspective on what I’m doing. I think it’s good for me to take a break and reassess why I’m doing it and how I’m doing it. And I think this is probably a good way to learn about that. I need a break from myself as much as I imagine the audience does.”

He confirmed that he’s taking a break to The Hollywood Reporter, saying that “I’ve kind of over-saturated myself with myself.”
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Predictably, considering he’s got the face that launched a thousand memes, online response has been one of shock and sadness.
Beyond introspection, what will he do during his time off? His directorial debut, How to Catch a Monster, is in pre-production—and, as Crushable suggests, he could always become a “full-time superhero.” Or, following the advice of a headline at Jezebel, he could focus on “tousling the hair of orphans.”
Of course, he could always hang out with other actors who are on hiatus. Channing Tatum is also focusing on directing rather than acting, as of Dec. 2012. Idris Elba is doing the same, but for music rather than directing, as of this month. Leonardo DiCaprio said in January that he’s on a break, which he’ll spend focusing on environmental causes.
But Gosling fans can take heart from their idol’s membership in that elite club. While Michelle Williams said in Jan. of 2012 that she was going to be just a mom for a while, she’s already starring in the blockbuster Oz the Great and Powerful—and it was only a month after DiCaprio’s announcement before he returned to thinking about movies and signed on to produce The Road Home.