Nicholas Hoult learned a thing or two on the set of director Clint Eastwood Juror #2.

When he spoke to PEOPLE last month about his partnership with Heineken and the Formula 1 Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix, the 35-year-old English actor said what he gained from working with Eastwood, 94, “am “What I learned the most” was “his ability to be very relaxed” and simply pursue the art of creation.

“I think that’s how it works for him,” Hoult continues. “And I think it’s wonderful to witness that because he’s very calming, he’s very relaxed, and I think he trusts his audience and gives them space and respects their intelligence to let a story breathe without them to dictate everything.”

The actor also praises the versatility of the “creative and talented” Eastwood, pointing out that he “wrote the scores for many of his films, so his musicality means his films have their own rhythm and pace.”

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“He’s just an incredibly talented and kind man,” Hoult says. “I was very fortunate to spend time with him and work with him. He is very funny. He has a sharp mind, a dry sense of humor, and that was great too because we would laugh a lot.”

The Nosferatu The actor also tells PEOPLE that he asked Eastwood about acting, joking, “When you’re in the presence of such greatness, it’s like, ‘I’m asking the stupid, stupid question.’ ”

“I say, ‘Hey, how are you acting? What are you doing?’ You Do?’ Hoult adds, “And he said it’s an emotional and instinctive art form. “So don’t think too much – just do it.”

Juror #2 is the latest cinematic effort from veteran filmmaker Eastwood. The legal thriller follows Hoult’s character Justin Kemp, a family man who “struggles with a serious moral dilemma while serving as a juror in a high-profile murder trial, one that he could use to influence the jury’s verdict and possibly to convict – or acquit – the accused murderer,” a summary reads.

In addition to Hoult, the cast includes Toni Collette, Zoey Deutch, Kiefer Sutherland, Gabriel Basso, Leslie Bibb, Chris Messina and JK Simmons.

And as the director said in a statement to PEOPLE back in October Juror #2“We had a really great group of actors, led by Nicholas Hoult, who I was really impressed with – he’s a movie star in my opinion.”

Of the film itself, Eastwood added: “It deals with the gray areas between black and white of everyday circumstances and lets you decide for yourself.”

Juror #2 will stream on December 20th.