Clint Eastwood didn’t show up to “Jury” in Los Angeles on Sunday, but that didn’t stop his main cast and a few hundred moviegoers from sending him their best wishes.

The 94-year-old cinema legend’s final film, “Juror No. 2,” served as the closing gala screening for this year’s AFI Fest. Leading the program at TCL’s historic Chinese Theaters, AFI President Bob Gazzale informed disappointed fans that Eastwood “couldn’t be here with us tonight, but we’re here for him.”

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After noting his dozens of film credits — including the “Dirty Harry” franchise and directorial efforts like “Richard Jewell” and “Play Misty for Me” — Gazzale introduced “Juror No. 2” stars Toni Collette and Nicholas Hoult. The couple last appeared on screen 22 years ago, Collette recalls, in 2002’s “About a Boy.”

Collette said she was honored to work with Eastwood “as a director, which always blows my mind…but he’s a really good, solid human being.” Getting to know him has been incredible. Hoult shared his nerves about auditioning for Eastwood and “Juror” before joking that audiences wouldn’t have much sense of the new film if they hadn’t seen “Juror No. 1” .

For his 40th birthday^th As director, Eastwood tells the story of a family man (Hoult) struggling with recent sobriety and a wife (Zoey Deutch) overcoming a high-risk pregnancy. An untimely jury assignment brings him face-to-face with a horrific incident from his past, which leads to moral and criminal dilemmas throughout a controversial murder trial. Colette plays a steely prosecutor running for political office. Kiefer Sutherland, Chris Messina, Leslie Bibb, JK Simmons and Adrienne C. Moore complete the cast.

If AFI Fest audiences felt minimal fanfare during the premiere Sunday, domestic audiences could soon expect the same. Last week, Variety reported in depth on the small theatrical release footprint that the Warner Bros. project. will have. The studio is rolling out “Juror No. 2” to fewer than 50 theaters this weekend, sources said, with no plans yet to expand to other locations in the coming weeks. It is also unlikely that Warner Bros. publishes box office receipts for the film, a rare but not unheard of practice in today’s market. “Juror No. 2” currently does not have a PVOD launch date or streaming debut on Max.

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