Clint Eastwood, welcome to the Oscar race. The 94-year-old filmmaker returns next month with the new courtroom drama Juror #2, which received its first trailer from Warner Bros. Pictures.
Nicholas Hoult stars as Justin Kemp, a family man summoned for jury duty on a high-profile murder trial. One year prior, Kemp potentially ran over a deer while driving during a rainstorm late at night. Why is that relevant? Kemp is serving as a juror on a trial that may have a connection to his accident.
The deer he believed to have hit may have been the dead woman at the center of the trial. Per Warner Bros., “Kemp finds himself struggling with a serious moral dilemma he could use to sway the jury verdict and potentially convict — or free — the accused killer.”
“Maybe I didn’t hit a deer,” Kemp cautiously tells his lawyer.
From legendary filmmaker Clint Eastwood, comes Juror #2. Only in Theaters November 1. Get tickets now. #Juror2Movie https://t.co/t5q427Fd9a pic.twitter.com/lD2rNJoRqS
— Warner Bros. Pictures (@wbpictures) October 1, 2024
Besides Hoult, Juror #2’s ensemble includes Toni Collette, J. K. Simmons, Chris Messina, Zoey Deutch, Cedric Yarbrough, Gabriel Basso, Leslie Bibb, Amy Aquino, Adrienne C. Moore, and Kiefer Sutherland. Eastwood’s daughter, Francesca Eastwood, will also appear.
Eastwood directs Juror #2 from a script by Jonathan Abrams. This marks Eastwood’s first directed feature since 2021’s Cry Macho. Juror #2 is rumored to be Eastwood’s final film as an actor and director. In an April 2023 report in The Hollywood Reporter, Eastwood wanted to find one final project before he “rode off into the sunset with his head held high.” Eastwood found Abrams’ script, brought it to Warner Bros., and began production in June 2023.
Could Juror #2 sneak into the Best Picture conversation for the 2025 Oscars? If the film is well-received, the fact that it’s Eastwood’s swan song could sway voters into nominating the four-time Oscar winner one last time. The 2025 Oscars are also considered extremely wide-open, unlike last season, where Oppenheimer dominated from start to finish.
Juror #2 will premiere at the AFI Fest on October 27, 2024. It will then be released in select theaters on November 1, 2024.