“Juror #2″ is a film packed with moral ambiguity, placing a seemingly ordinary man into a super sticky situation that quickly turns into a Catch 22.
It’s the type of gray area 94-year-old director Clint Eastwood enjoys exploring. This particular film is now in theaters in limited release in 18 markets Nov. 1, including Atlanta’s AMC Parkway Pointe.
The man placed in the center of all this is played by British actor Nicholas Hoult, known for his roles in the “X-Men” franchise, “Mad Max: Fury Road” and “The Menu.” He plays Justin Kemp, a seemingly ordinary man who has been sober for four years and has pieced his life back together.
Justin has a wife and a baby on the way. While on jury duty, he gets picked to be in a jury for a murder case of a woman whose boyfriend seems, on the surface, guilty of killing her and dumping her over a bridge into a creek on a late rainy night in Savannah. They had just had a fight at a bar witnessed by numerous patrons.
This is no secret for anyone who saw the trailer: Justin realizes he was at that bar the same night and on his way home, he hit what he thought was a deer. But now he wonders: did he accidentally hit this woman instead? He was sober, but he did come from a bar while grappling with his wife’s recent miscarriage and almost took a drink.
His sponsor (Kiefer Sutherland), who happens to be a lawyer, said if he fessed up, he could be found guilty of a hit-and-run and land in prison. So Justin stays on the jury and chooses to keep his mouth shut.
“He is caught up in this event that was potentially his fault, but he doesn’t feel totally responsible,” said Hoult in a Zoom interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “But then he’s in this tricky situation of having to do the right thing while protecting himself.”
WARNER BROTH
WARNER BROTH
J.K. Simmons (”Law & Order,” “La La Land,” “Whiplash”) plays a seemingly mild-mannered fellow juror and flower shop owner. He also doesn’t tell the lawyers that he’s a former cop (they didn’t ask) and starts secretly investigating the case himself much to Justin’s consternation.
“Those are the moments you start potentially thinking about Justin in a different way,” Hoult said. “He is presented at first as a good guy trying to do the best he can but then you start to see that he’s actually manipulative and ruthless. It’s quite understated as it is in many of Clint’s movies, but you start to question Justin. Maybe he is the bad guy in the movie. He could be both the villain and the hero.”
Hoult also reunites with award-winning Australian actress Toni Collette, who portrayed his depressed mom 22 years earlier in the quirky Hugh Grant comedy “About a Boy” and is now the prosecutor in “Juror #2.” Collette’s Faith Killebrew is handling what she thinks is a reasonably easy murder case, a case that would help her get elected as district attorney.
But “as my character starts to realize what’s going on, she has to decide what she can live with because she could lose a lot as well if she brings the truth forward,” said Collette, in an email interview with The AJC.
For Hoult, “it was very special to work with Toni again and spend time with her. She is a ray of light in life. Her character is trying to use his case as a way to progress her career though she ends up on the wrong side of justice.”
Both actors were deeply honored to work with Eastwood. “I was beyond amazed when my agent said Clint Eastwood wanted to speak to me,” Hoult said. “It was nothing I expected or dreamed of... It was very exciting to spend time with him on set and learn from him and watch how he creates his movies.”
Although Hollywood trade publications have implied this could be Eastwood’s final film, Collette isn’t so sure. “It’s his passion,” she said. “His storytelling is impeccable, and he gets what it is to be human. He captures it and he heightens it, and he makes people feel and think.”
AP
AP
Both found Savannah a challenging place to work simply because of the humidity. “You walk out and you feel like you got out of a shower fully clothed,” Collette said. The film was stopped mid production due to the actors and writers strikes in 2023, so when they returned later in the year to finish it, it was far cooler. “Easier to focus,” she said.
Collette did appreciate how “atmospheric” Savannah is: “For a young country, it’s historic. I loved all the old mansions.”
Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP
Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP
The film, budgeted in the mid-$30 million range, was originally scheduled for streaming only, according to Puck and Variety magazine, but after positive screenings, Warner Bros. Pictures decided to place it in theaters. But it scheduled to release the movie the weekend of Nov. 1 in just 28 movie theaters nationwide.
As Variety noted, this is an odd way to treat Eastwood, who has an excellent track record as a director and producer. His “American Sniper” was the highest-grossing domestic release of 2014. Two of Eastwood’s follow-ups, “Sully” and “The Mule,” both earned more than $100 million in North America. His more recent movie “Richard Jewell” about the 1996 Olympic Park bombing didn’t do as well.
Given this is a Warner Brothers Discovery film, it will likely end up on the Max streaming service at a future date.
IF YOU GO
“Juror #2,” in limited theaters Nov. 1 including AMC Parkway Pointe
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