In Clint Eastwood’s film “Juror #2” there was a meeting “About a boy”

Toni Collette played a mom in movies before she became a mother in real life, so she paid close attention to the career rise of her “About a Boy” co-star Nicholas Gault.

Twenty-two years after appearing opposite Hugh Grant in the coming-of-age drama, Hoult and Collette were delighted to be directed together again. Clint Eastwoodnew court drama Juror #2 (in select theaters Friday). And on the first day of shooting – in a moment of emotion and confrontation – Collette felt herself in the scene very strongly, but also “as a proud mother”.

“My God, look at my boy! He was so good, she recalls in an interview with Holt. “He became like an incredible actor.”

Join our viewing party! Sign up to get movie and TV recommendations from USA TODAY straight to your inbox.

Holt adds that it was “such a weird, weird dichotomy of feelings for me. My hero opens the door and it’s Tony and your face that I know so well, but we haven’t seen each other in 20 years. But I feel like I know you so well. My brain was buzzing with so many things, but I knew I was very happy to be there.”

The Juror stars Collette as a Georgia state prosecutor whose quest to become a district attorney boils down to securing a guilty verdict in a murder case, while Holt is a reluctant juror inextricably linked to a true crime, and both face a series of moral dilemmas.

It’s a decidedly different dynamic than In About a Boy, where Gault was a British boy who befriends a wealthy bachelor (Grant) while his mother (Colette) struggles with her mental health.

“It was really special to be reunited,” adds Holt, 34, who was happy “to be back working with someone who made me feel so happy and safe when I was a kid.” Colette says she ran into him once and he told her, “Every time I see you, you have my mom in front of you.”

And the same for Collette when she watches him in films like Mad Max: Fury Road or Warm Bodies: “Nick has grown into a completely different person, both as a person and as an actor.” (Holt also recently saw Grant in Los Angeles, telling the senior performer that he played in Eastwood’s golf tournament. “He said, ‘Oh, I’m so jealous of that.’ And then I told him that racing with Ferrari and he said, “I envy two things.” »)

Holt and Collette’s reunion involved sharing food and drinks during and after filming, and even swapped Eastwood stories. When Holt tells her about the time in 1951, when the Hollywood legend was a private in the army in a military bomber that crashed into the Pacific Ocean and he had to make his way to shore on his own, Collette’s only response being, “Wow.”

Working with Holt again also reminded Collette, who turns 52 this week, of the “elasticity of time.” The Australian actress was 28 when she starred in About a Boy, a role that followed her breakthrough roles in Muriel’s Wedding and The Sixth Sense (which won her an Oscar), and a project that seems “so recent and so distant.” .” Holt himself starred in his second film and was only 11 years old during filming, when acting was just a “fun hobby” for the Englishman.

“I still kind of look at it that way,” he says with a laugh. “They let me do it anyway and I love it, so I’ll keep going. But at the same time you are a child. You say, “Yeah, I want to play this scene, but there’s somebody here with a ball and a bat, and I want to go play and do all these other things.” »

“I was lucky enough to keep doing it because I knew what everyone was saying that it’s not often that child actors get to do it when they’re adults,” Holt adds. “It’s just amazing to know when you’re already set up for defeat at that age. So I feel very grateful that I’m still enjoying it, learning from it and growing.”

Like Collette, Holt became a father in the years after About a Boy. He believes that parenthood has “actually given me this new source of creativity in a weird way, where I enjoy the process more, but then it’s also easier to get distracted from work and prioritize. I’m working on a different level, which I really enjoy.”

His impressive upcoming slate reflects this, as he played key roles in The Order (out Dec. 6) and Nosferatu (Dec. 25), and he’ll play supervillain Lex Luthor in next year’s Superman (July 11). “If you had told me 20 years from now that I would be there, I would have been extremely excited and happy,” says Holt.

He also needs to make time for Collette, who is desperate to do something else with her son in the movies. “It was incredible to get this opportunity,” she says. “Now we just need to do it a third time and make it a hat-trick.”