Warner Bros. Entertainment via AP This image released by Warner Bros. Entertainment shows Nicholas Hoult, left, and director Clint Eastwood backstage during production on “Juror #2.”

Nicholas Hoult was sure someone had made a mistake.

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

“I was so nervous,” the British actor said. “I remember saying to him, ‘I really like the script.’ I was so anxious to say thank you.”

For Eastwood’s return, Hoult slipped into a perfect imitation of his gravelly voice: “If you like it that much, I think I’ll have to read it.”

Suddenly Hoult was laughing. The tension was broken.

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

While there may be a healthy amount of English self-deprecation in the story, its spirit is not unique to Hoult. Eastwood, 94, is the kind of living legend that leaves even the most seasoned veterans in awe. “Juror #2,” his 42nd film behind the camera, is getting rave reviews for being a smart and original thriller about an impossible conundrum.

In Jonathan Abrams’ original screenplay, Hoult’s character, a recovering alcoholic with his first child about to be born, is selected as a jury in a murder case. But when the facts begin to unravel, so do his memories, and he is forced to confront the possibility that he may have been unknowingly responsible.

“After the first reading he had me,” Eastwood wrote in an email. “It made me think what would you do if you were put in that situation? What is correct? What happened? Who would you protect? A real moral dilemma. That’s something I’d like to see.”

And he began rounding out his cast, led by Hoult, who he called a true “movie star,” with supporting turns from Toni Collette as an ambitious prosecutor, Chris Messina as a public defender, JK Simmons as a fellow juror, as and Zoey Deutch and Kiefer Sutherland, who wrote a letter asking if he could have a part for him.

Sutherland had long imagined crossing paths with Eastwood. A lifelong Western fan, Sutherland’s late father, Donald Sutherland, had even worked with Eastwood a few 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. Then I realized that that period can disappear,” Sutherland said. “I just said, ‘I’ve always dreamed of working with you, and if there’s a part, any part, I’d love to be able to have the experience of watching you live.’

He was eventually cast to play a lawyer and AA sponsor of Hoult’s character. The screen time was relatively small, but the experience was exactly what he was hoping for: a masterclass in the truest sense.

“I’ve worked with people who yell and get angry and are very demonstrative,” Sutherland said. “He was so amazingly quiet and calm and soft spoken. He’s someone who has power, when he can be that, and he gets everything he needs.”

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

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

Similarly, Collette said she has never felt so confident.

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

The film would also mark the first time she and Hoult will share the screen since they played mother and son in About a Boy 23 years ago, when he was just 11. They had texted a while back, but Collette wasn’t ready. for the thrill of seeing Hoult again, 34 years ago. Then came their first scene together, and it wasn’t going to be an easy one: in fact, it’s the last shot of the film.

But that’s the Eastwood way. His efficiency on set is legendary. Sometimes you get two takes, but three is almost unheard of. Hoult said he and the actors on the jury even rehearsed in secret to make sure they could pull off the longer scenes. 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, was very efficient and when he became known for efficiency, he started trying to show his efficiency. … I think Mr. Eastwood kind of looks at a set and looks at a scene and finds the most direct way to shoot it.”

Much has been made about whether “Jury #2” will be Eastwood’s last film. But don’t say that, publicly or privately. In fact, when production went on hiatus during the actors’ strike, he didn’t even use that time as a break.

“I remember when we came back from the strike, I was like, ‘What have you done? And he said, ‘Well, we were looking for new material,'” Collette said. “Nobody can say this is his last film.”

Sutherland added, “His parking spot at Warner Bros. it’s not going anywhere.”