Josh Hartnett Won’t Encourage His Daughters to Become Actors (Exclusive)

Josh Hartnett wants to shield his children from the difficulties of working as a Hollywood actor.

The father of four, who stars in the new film Trap, tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue that he and his wife, British actress Tamsin Egerton, are intentionally raising their kids away from the spotlight. (They live a quiet life in the English countryside.)

“We don’t bring [work] home,” says Hartnett, 46. “Dad has to go to work, and they do know what I do, but they don’t understand the thing yet. And I’m glad that they don’t. We’ll try and keep them away from it as much as possible because we want them to have normal upbringings.”

In Trap, Hartnett works with writer-director M. Night Shyamalan, whose daughter, singer Saleka, has a role in the film as the fictional pop star Lady Raven. Another one of Shyamalan’s three daughters, Ishana, is a filmmaker who made her directorial debut with the recent film The Watchers.

Would Hartnett be on board with his kids following in his footsteps and becoming actors?

“I mean, I’d have to be if they really wanted to, but I wouldn’t encourage it,” says Hartnett, who debuted onscreen in 1998’s Halloween H20: 20 Years Later. “Not to make it too simplified, but I do think the industry is really tough on girls, and I don’t want that for my kids. I also think the industry is tough on actors. We’re always waiting for people to say it’s okay for us to do our job.”

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

He adds, “If my kids wanted to be directors, or if my kids wanted to be musicians the way that Night’s are, I would understand that. That would be really cool.”

Seeing Shyamalan collaborate with Saleka on the Trap set was “really inspiring” to Hartnett.

“I hope that one day, I don’t know what my kids will end up wanting to do, but I hope that I have that same sort of relationship with them where I can continue to be around them and be a part of their creative life as they get older,” he says.

For now, the Oppenheimer star just wants his kids to stop growing up so fast. (His eldest daughter turns 9 later this year.)

“Our kids are getting older, and all that stuff is terrifying,” Hartnett says. “I don’t want them to get older too quickly. I want to keep them as little, squishy kids.”

Aside from being “really hardcore Swifties,” his kids are now into horses, he says.

“What’s fun about being a dad is that your kids introduce you to new things that you didn’t know you’d ever be interested in. You end up doing things that you never would do for yourself,” he says. “Right now my kids are very into riding horses, so I’m learning about that stuff. I’m excited to learn more things [with them].”

Trap is in theaters now.

For more on Josh Hartnett, pick up this week’s issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands now.