Michaela Coel was encouraged to seize her window of opportunity after the success of her TV show I May Destroy You.
The British actress achieved critical acclaim for her 2020 TV miniseries, which she created, directed, co-wrote and starred in, and won a BAFTA TV Award and an Emmy.
Following the success, Coel received an influx of job offers and was encouraged to strike while the iron was hot - but she resisted the temptation to do so.
"I remember somebody saying to me, 'This is the window.' Something in that phrase made me think, 'Oh, operating in that way makes me feel like underneath that is a fear of a window closing.' I was like, that's weird energy. I don't want that. So I kind of looked away from the window," she told The Hollywood Reporter.
"I didn't want to do too much of the window-closing stuff because I also learned that I have to really feel like it's purpose-driven," she continued. "I can tell when I've made a decision based on something that isn't quite right to me. It's hard to explain, but I know that when I do something for popularity or clout, it's not as fulfilling as doing something like Mother Mary or The Christophers, where my body is pulled to this story, to these people."
Coel's first film after I May Destroy You was 2022's Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and she admitted she felt "a little astray" because she didn't know how to act with a green screen.
She ultimately realised that she prefers intimate films with "two people" and "heavy, thick dialogue", which sum up her most recent two movies, Mother Mary and The Christophers. They are both contained films starring Coel and one other person - Anne Hathaway and Ian McKellen, respectively.
Alongside those two film appearances, Coel has been creating her next TV show, First Day on Earth.
Of choosing her acting projects carefully, she added, "I'd rather not be visible and not be doing anything. I'm very fortunate in that I can sustain myself and not work for a little bit and tinker around my laptop and just see if something comes to my soul."
Mother Mary and The Christophers are in U.S. cinemas now.
