Nicholas Hoult on Working With Clint Eastwood on ‘Juror #2’: “Meet Your Heroes”

At the age of 94, Clint Eastwood is back with legal drama Juror #2, following a juror for a high-profile murder trial who is struggling with a serious moral dilemma that could influence the verdict.

Nicholas Hoult stars as the juror, and at the film’s AFI Fest premiere in Los Angeles on Sunday, told The Hollywood Reporter about the “dream come true” of collaborating with the iconic filmmaker after growing up on his movies.

“They always say don’t meet your heroes, but this is a case where it’s amazing to meet your heroes because he’s cool and calm and collected, he has an ease about life and with people and a charm and a glint in his eye and always a cracking sense of humor,” Hoult said. “He cares about what he’s creating, he trusts the people around him and he trusts the audience too.” The actor also praised “the community that he has built — many of the collaborators he’s worked with for many, many years.”

Toni Collette, who stars as the trial’s prosecutor, echoed that she “would have done anything for Clint, I just can’t believe I got to work with him. He’s a dream director. It’s an incredible atmosphere to work within, and there’s a lot of freedom and connectedness and a sense of community on set.” The star-studded cast also includes J.K. Simmons, Kiefer Sutherland, Zoey Deutch, Leslie Bibb and Chris Messina.

With Eastwood — who was not present at the premiere — now in his mid-90s, there is an assumption that this film may be his last. But his cast is keeping a more open door on that, as Hoult said he didn’t want to speculate on Eastwood’s future and was “just glad that whilst I was working I got to make one with him.”

Collette added, “He will do it as long as he wants. I do know in the [writers and actors] strike, I was like, ‘What have you been doing?’ He’s like, ‘I’m looking for material and can’t find anything.’ So he’s endlessly creative, he’s a true artist.”

Gabriel Basso, who plays the accused murderer in the movie, joked of labeling this Eastwood’s final film, “I feel like just because people say that he’s going to say, ‘Screw you guys, I’m making another one;’ even if it’s five minutes long I feel like he’ll find a way just to stick it to everybody.”

Juror #2 will hit select theaters on Friday.