Clint Eastwood’s ‘Juror #2’ “Hoping” for Cannes Premiere

One of the real bummers of the SAG-AFTRA strike was the production halt of 93-year-old Clint Eastwood’s, supposedly, “final film,” which finally restarted shooting, post-strike, in November. A month later, Eastwood was all smiles, sporting a recently grown beard, on the set of “Juror #2.” That’s because shooting was about to wrap on the film.

Eastwood works very quickly, so it shouldn’t come as much of a stretch to believe that he’ll be done post-production on this one very soon. It’s supposed to come out in the fall of 2024, and a Cannes bow was never out of the question. It looks like that might actually happen.

It turns out that Warner Bros, Eastwood are “hoping” and “working” to screen “Juror #2” this coming May on the Croisette. This is big news. There’s no better place to show his final film than at Cannes, and in France, where critics have always been kindest to his work.

The last Eastwood to premiere on the Croisette was 2008’s “Changeling”. A year later, in 2009, Eastwood became only the second person to receive an honorary Palme d’Or from the festival. 15 years later, he might return with his final film.

A few months back, THR had reported that Eastwood “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 for “Juror No. 2” and said this is “the one”. This will probably be the narrative used by Warner Bros. during next year’s, awards season: “Clint’s final film”.

“Juror No. 2” stars Toni Collette, Nicholas Hoult, Kiefer Sutherland and Zoey Deutch. The film is “set during a murder trial where one of the jurors slowly realizes he killed the victim in a reckless-driving accident and tries to save the defendant without incriminating himself.”

Eastwood’s last film was one of the worst of his career, 2021’s “Cry Macho,” but he’s been fairly consistent as a filmmaker, even in his relight years, having released 2018’s “The Mule,” and 2019’s “Richard Jewell” — both very good.