Whiplash Oscar winner J.K. Simmons has joined the cast of Clint Eastwood’s Juror #2 at Warner Bros.
In the Jonathan Abrams penned movie, family man Justin Kemp, while serving as a juror in a high-profile murder trial, finds himself struggling with a serious moral dilemma; one he could use to sway the jury verdict and potentially convict — or free — the wrong killer.
Simmons will play a juror and joins the ensemble cast that counts Nicholas Hoult (Justin Kemp, juror), Toni Collette (prosecutor), Gabriel Basso (accused), Zoey Deutch (Kemp’s wife), Leslie Bibb (juror), Chris Messina (public defender) and Kiefer Sutherland’s (Kemp’s AA sponsor).
Producers on the movie are Eastwood, Malpaso’s Tim Moore and Jessica Meier, and Dichotomy’s Adam Goodman & Matt Skiena. EPs are Ellen Goldsmith-Vein & Jeremy Bell and David M. Bernstein.
Simmons won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of merciless jazz instructor, Fletcher in Sony Pictures Classics’ Whiplash. His performance in the film also garnered him a Screen Actors Guild Award, Golden Globe, Independent Spirit Award and BAFTA Award, as well as many critics’ group awards around the world. Whiplash premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival and won the Dramatic Audience Award and Grand Jury Prize for Best Film. The film also garnered five Academy Award nominations including Best Picture.
Simmons stars in the upcoming thriller You Can’t Run Forever directed by his wife Michelle Schumacher. Also coming up for Simmons is the Netflix’ action thriller The Union starring Mark Wahlberg and Halle Berry.
Other credits include Amazon’s Being the Ricardos, STX’s National Champions, Amazon’s sci-fi thriller The Tomorrow War, and Apple TV+ miniseries Defending Jacob.
Simmons is known for playing ‘J. Jonah Jameson’ in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy, most recently voicing the character for the blockbusters Spider-Man: No Way Home and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.
Simmons is repped by Gersh.