Clint Eastwood — the legendary actor-director behind Unforgiven, Million Dollar Baby and The Bridges of Madison County — is gearing up to make yet another film for his longtime studio home, Warner Bros.
The 92-year-old is in the process of casting Nicholas Hoult and Toni Collette in Juror No. 2, a legal drama that is set up at Warners. After months of trying to find the right combination of actors and weeks of talks with Hoult and Collette, official offers to the actors went out Thursday.
Juror No. 2 will take place during a murder trial and follows a juror, to be played by Hoult, who realizes that he may have caused the victim’s death. He must decide whether to manipulate the jury to save himself, or reveal the truth and turn himself in. Collette would play the prosecutor.
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A production start of mid-June is being eyed, which means Eastwood will be 93 years old when cameras begin to roll, making him one of the oldest filmmakers still working.
Eastwood’s last movie was Cry Macho, a modern-day Western released in 2021. Eastwood also starred in the movie, which was not well-received. Sources say that the actor-director wanted to find one last project in order to be able to ride off into the sunset with his head held high. He found the script by Jonathan Abrams and decided this was the one. Some rewrites were done to change the ages of certain characters as well as to add a supporting role. Eastwood has been trying to cast the project since late last year, with names such as Charlize Theron in the permutations.
Eastwood is producing the movie with Adam Goodman, the former production president of Paramount turned producer who now runs his own banner, Dichotomy. Tim Moore, Matt Skiena and Jessica Meier are also producing. Ellen Goldsmith-Vein and Jeremy Bell of The Gotham Group, who have been steering the script through Hollywood for the last 15 years, are executive producing.
After making a name for himself in front of the camera in films like Dirty Harry and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Eastwood began taking over directing on his movies, many times pulling double duty by playing a starring or supporting role in his films. He has earned multiple Oscar nominations for best director on films like Letters From Iwo Jima and Mystic River, and has won two Oscars, for his directing on Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby, movies that also both won the Academy Award for best picture. His films Mystic River, Letters From Iwo Jima and American Sniper also earned best picture nominations.
Hoult will next be in theaters with Universal’s horror comedy Renfield. His upcoming slate includes Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu, where he will star opposite Willem Dafoe, Emma Corin and Aaron Taylor-Johnson. He is repped by UTA.
Collette will next be seen in Amazon’s fantasy drama series The Power, and is set for Mickey 17, Bong Joon Ho’s new movie that also stars Robert Pattinson, Mark Ruffalo and Steven Yeun. The latter will be released by Warners. She is repped by CAA.
