Warner Bros. via AP. EntertainmentWarner Bros. This image released by Entertainment shows Nicholas Hoult (left) and director Clint Eastwood behind the scenes during production of “Jury #2.”

Nicholas Hoult was sure someone had made a mistake.

Clint Eastwood wanted to talk to him about starring in his new movie, a slow-burn legal thriller about a normal guy facing an extraordinary moral dilemma. He thought Eastwood definitely meant someone else. But soon they were chatting on the phone about “Juror #2,” which opens in theaters Friday.

“I was very nervous,” the British actor said. “I remember telling him, “I really liked the script.” “I was so eager to please.”

For Eastwood’s comeback, Hoult perfectly imitated his gravelly voice: “If you like it that much, I guess I’ll have to read it.”

Suddenly Hoult started laughing. The tension was broken.

I said, “Wow, this guy is so cool.” “He has a great sense of humor and we will get along well.”

While there is a healthy amount of British self-deprecation in the story, its spirit is not unique to Hoult. Eastwood, 94, is a living legend who surprises even the most seasoned veterans a little. His 42nd behind-the-scenes feature, “Jury #2,” is receiving strong reviews for being a smart, original courtroom thriller about an impossible dilemma.

In the original script by Jonathan Abrams, Hoult’s character, a recovering alcoholic whose first child is about to be born, is selected for jury duty in a murder case. However, when the truth begins to emerge, so do his memories, and he is forced to confront the possibility that he may have been unknowingly responsible.

“After the first reading, I was blown away,” Eastwood wrote in an email. “This situation made me think, what would you do if you were in this situation? What’s right? What’s wrong? Who would you protect? A real moral dilemma. “This is something I would want to watch.”

And he began rounding out the cast, led by Hoult, whom he called a bona fide “movie star”; It stars Toni Collette as the ambitious prosecutor, Chris Messina as the public defender, and JK Simmons and Zoey Deutch as jurors. and Kiefer Sutherland, who wrote a letter asking if there might be a role for him.

Sutherland had long dreamed of crossing paths with Eastwood. Sutherland’s late father, Donald Sutherland, a lifelong Western fan, had worked with Eastwood several times (“Kelly’s Heroes,” “Space Cowboys”). However, “2. He felt a new sense of urgency when he read Juror’s plans.

“I always thought I’d show up on Mr. Eastwood’s doorstep one day. Then I realized that maybe time had just kind of flown by,” Sutherland said. “I just said, ‘I’ve always dreamed of working with you, and if there’s a role, any role, I’d love to have the experience of watching you direct.’

He was eventually cast for the role of a lawyer and AA sponsor to Hoult’s character. The screen time was relatively short, but the experience was exactly what he hoped for: a literal masterclass.

“I’ve worked with people who yell and get angry, and they’re very demonstrative,” Sutherland said. “He was incredibly quiet, calm and soft spoken. This is someone who has power and can get anything he needs.

On one of his first days, an assistant director was explaining to Sutherland how to get through a doorway in a scene. Eastwood stepped in to stop the training, telling AD, “He knows what he’s doing.” Despite his more than 40 years of experience in the industry, Sutherland said he walked a little taller that day.

“This created 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.”

Collette similarly said she has never felt more trusted.

“He’s very confident as a director, but not in a negative way. “He is very present and allows everything to come out,” he said. “Honestly, I’ve never worked with someone this easygoing.”

The film will also mark the first time she and Hoult will share the screen since playing mother and son in “About a Boy” 23 years ago, when Hoult was just 11 years old. They had just texted, but Collette wasn’t prepared for this. I was touched to see Hoult again, who is now 34 years old. Then came their first scene together, and it wasn’t going to be easy: In fact, it was the last scene of the movie.

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

“It’s not efficient for the sake of being efficient,” Sutherland said. “I think Sydney Pollack, for example, is really efficient, and once he became known for being efficient, he started showing his efficiency. … I think Mr. Eastwood kind of looks at the set, looks at a scene, and figures out the right way to shoot it.”

Much has been made of whether “Juror #2” will be Eastwood’s last film. But he doesn’t say this publicly or privately. In fact, when production was suspended during the actors’ strike, he didn’t even use that time as a break.

“When we came back from the strike, they said, ‘What did you do? ‘I was looking for new material,’ Collette said. “It’s not anyone’s place to say that this is his last movie.”

Sutherland added: “Parking in the Warner Bros. lot is not going anywhere.”