“About a Boy”'s Toni Collette and Nicholas Hoult talk reuniting after 20-plus years for “Juror #2”

"It's amazing to have worked with someone as a kid, and then suddenly, there they are as a man," gushes Collette.

Mothers will always be proud of their sons. Even if they only played their mom in a movie.

At least that's true for Toni Collette, who starred as Nicholas Hoult's mom in 2002's About a Boy when he was only 13. Now, Hoult and Collette are reuniting for the first time in 20-plus years, starring together in Clint Eastwood's Juror #2, having only seen each other once in all that time.

"It's amazing to have worked with someone as a kid, and then, suddenly, there they are as a man," gushes Collette. "It's surreal because I feel like I've played a lot of mothers, and there is a certain maternal feeling that goes with it."

Related: Nicholas Hoult told Toni Collette that every time he sees her in a movie he says, 'That's my mom!'

"I was so fond of you," she tells Hoult. "And then to see you as this evolved human and being able to watch him going through [these scenes]. I could see everything in his mind. I could feel the energy of what his emotions were. I felt so proud of him. I was like, 'My God, look how talented he is.' It really blew me away. And then we got to hang out. We got to become friends properly, and it's been a total gift. It's a treat to come back together again."

Hoult echoes that love for Collette and their working experience. "It was truly brilliant," he adds. "Since we shot About a Boy, we'd seen each other once on a dance floor at a party. But that was it. So, it was so magical."

"I have such fond memories of About a Boy and how kind and caring Toni was for me then," Hoult continues. "In the time in between, I've watched her in so many wonderful things, and she's one of the most incredible actresses around. She brings joy, light, laughter, and happiness wherever she goes. So, there's this wonderful feeling of getting to be back in scenes with her and spend time with her."

Related: See Nicholas Hoult go bald for Lex Luthor in first photo of Superman: Legacy cast

Still, the scenes they share aren't exactly the warm and fuzzy stuff of a mother-son reunion 20 years in the making. Juror #2 is a legal thriller following a high-profile murder trial, in which Collette stars as prosecutor Faith Killebrew, and Hoult plays the titular juror, Justin Kemp, a family man who finds himself in a moral dilemma when he realizes he may hold a secret that could sway the verdict.

As Justin, Hoult goes on an emotional rollercoaster, and he asked his legendary director for advice early on. "He's so easygoing as a director," Hoult notes. "But I remember one day, it was quite early on in the shoot, I was like, 'Okay, I'm here with him. This might be the only chance I get to ask him. I can't remember exactly how I phrased it, but I did ask basically, 'How do you act?' Because I just wanted to know what his approach was."

"Clint can be so disarming and charming," he continues. "He was like, 'Well, it's an emotional art form, so don't think. You just do.'"

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Collette's greatest challenge was learning the ins and outs of being a lawyer, having never played one before in her 30-plus-year career. "I wanted to really get it right," she says. "The writing is excellent. And I was handed on a platter the most amazing, incredible woman — a local woman who basically was my character. She knew everything about the system, how every single thing worked right down to when we're in the courtroom, how to use the space, not to mention how you would put a case like that together."

Collette notes that the courtroom scenes were a particular challenge, working with Chris Messina, who plays the defense lawyer for the state. "Chris and I were like, 'We've got to get up and act in front of all those actors in really lengthy scenes,'" she says. "It was very intimidating."

So much so that the real-life lawyer advising Collette sat next to her in the courtroom scenes, playing her uncredited right hand. "She informed so much of what I did," Collette adds. "In my mind, initially, I'm like, 'How would anyone believe that I'm actually the D.A.? How would anyone buy that?' So I have to get over the hump in my own mind about how acceptable that idea is."

Related: Clint Eastwood's daughter Francesca arrested on suspicion of alleged felony domestic violence

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Hoult is familiar with this obstacle. "Sometimes I'll read a script, and I'll be like, 'I don't think I believe myself,'" he says. "You project yourself into the movie, and you're like, 'I don't know if I believe that anyone would buy this.' And then you either pass because you're like, 'You shouldn't do this movie,' or you commit. And then hopefully, by the time you get to doing the scenes, you've found a way that it's believable enough to you that it'll be believable enough to other people."

Since Hoult and Collette clearly found each other believable, we have a feeling that audiences will have no problem buying into them. Juror #2 hits screens on Nov. 1.