The cast of “Juror #2” still can’t believe they got to work with Clint Eastwood | News, Sports, Work

Warner Bros. Entertainment via AP. This image was released by Warner Bros. Entertainment, shows Nicholas Hoult (left) and director Clint Eastwood behind the scenes on the set of Juror #2.

Nicholas Holt was sure someone had made a mistake.

Clint Eastwood wanted to talk to him about starring in his new film, a slow-paced legal thriller about a normal guy faced with an extraordinary moral dilemma. Eastwood must have had someone else in mind, he thought. But soon they started talking on the phone about “Juror #2,” which opens in theaters on Friday.

“I was so nervous,” said the British actor. “I remember saying to him, ‘I really like the script.’ I wanted so much to please.”

In Eastwood’s return, Hoult delivered his raspy voice flawlessly: “If you like it that much, I guess I’ll have to read it.”

Suddenly, Galt laughed. The tension was broken.

“I was like, wow, this guy is cool,” he said. “He’s got a great sense of humor and we’ll get along.”

While the story may have a healthy dose of English self-deprecation, its spirit is not unique to Holt. 94-year-old Eastwood is the kind of living legend that leaves even the most seasoned veterans in awe. Juror #2, his 42nd film, received strong reviews for its clever, original thriller about an impossible puzzle.

Based on an original screenplay by Jonathan Abrams, Gault’s character, a recovering alcoholic whose first child is about to be born, is selected for jury duty in a murder case. But as the facts begin to emerge, so do his memories, and he is forced to face the possibility that he may have been unknowingly responsible.

“After the first read, I was hooked,” Eastwood wrote in an email. “It got me thinking, what would you do if you were in that situation? What is right? what’s wrong Who would you protect? A real moral dilemma. That’s what I’d like to see.”

And he began rounding out his cast, led by Holt, who he described as a true “movie star,” with Toni Collette as an ambitious prosecutor, Chris Messina as a public defender, JC Simmons as a fellow juror, and Zoe Deutch. and Kiefer Sutherland, who wrote a letter asking for a role for him.

Sutherland had long thought he would meet Eastwood. A lifelong fan of westerns, Sutherland’s late father Donald Sutherland even worked with Eastwood several times (Kelly’s Heroes, Space Cowboys). But when he read about the plans for Juror #2, he felt a new sense of urgency.

“I always thought that one day I would end up on Mr. Eastwood’s doorstep. That’s when I realized that that time might be passing somehow,” Sutherland said. “I just said, ‘I’ve always dreamed of working with you, and if there’s a role, any role, I’d just love to be able to watch you as a director.’

He was eventually cast as the lawyer and AA sponsor for Holt’s character. The screen time was comparatively small, but the experience was exactly what he had hoped for: a master class in the truest sense.

“I’ve worked with people who yell and get angry, and they’re very demonstrative,” Sutherland said. “He was extremely quiet, calm and quiet. He’s the one with the power when he can be it and get what he needs.”

On one of the first days, an assistant director explained to Sutherland how to navigate the doors in the scene. Eastwood stepped in to stop the tutorial, telling AD, “He knows what he’s doing.” Despite his 40-odd years in the business, Sutherland said he rose a little higher that day.

“It changed my life,” Sutherland said. “I’m so glad I didn’t work with him when I was 18 because I would have tied myself in knots.”

Colette also said she had never felt so trusted.

“He’s so confident as a director, but not in a negative way. He is just present and allows everything to unfold,” she said. “I’ve never worked with someone who was this easy, to be honest.”

The film will also mark the first time she and Holt have shared the screen since they played mother and son in About a Boy 23 years ago, when he was just 11. They had previously rewritten, but Collette wasn’t ready for a wave of emotions to see Holt again, who is now 34 years old. Then there was their first scene together, and it wasn’t easy: it’s actually the last shot of the movie.

But that’s the Eastwood way. His efficiency on set is legendary. Sometimes you get two takes, but three is almost unheard of. Holt said he and the cast members even secretly rehearsed to make sure they could handle the longer scenes. No one wanted to be the squeaky wheel.

“He’s not effective for the sake of being effective,” Sutherland said. “I think Sidney Pollack, for example, was really effective, and when he became known as effective, he started trying to demonstrate his effectiveness. … I think Mr. Eastwood just looks at the set, looks at the scene and just finds the most direct way to shoot it.”

Much has been made about whether Juror #2 will be Eastwood’s last film. But he does not say this either publicly or privately. In fact, when production took a break during the actors’ strike, he didn’t even use that time as a break.

“I remember when we came back from the strike, I thought: ‘What have you done? And he said, ‘Well, I was looking for new material,'” Collette said. “No one has the right to say that this is his last film.”

Sutherland added: “His place in the Warner Bros. parking lot. will not go anywhere.”