Toni Collette praises on-screen son Nicholas Hoult 22 years after About a Boy: ‘Hasn’t my boy grown up?’

Collette and Hoult starred as mother and son in the 2002 film

Toni Collette and Nicholas Hoult have been reunited 22 years after the release of About A Boy.

The 2002 film, adapted from a Nick Hornby book, starred Hugh Grant as Will, a rich, child-free thirty-something who starts attending single parent meetings to meet women. He strikes up a friendship with Marcus (Hoult), a lonely schoolboy with problems at home.

Collette starred as Hoult’s on-screen mother, Fiona Brewer, who is struggling to manage her life as a single parent to Marcus.

The pair reunited to work together on what could be Clint Eastwood’s final film, Juror No 2. The courtroom drama stars Hoult as Justin Kemp, the titular juror, and Collette as a tough prosecutor hoping to run for political office.

At a screening of the Warner Bros film at the AFI Festival on Sunday (27 October), Collette and Hoult delighted fans as they addressed their reunion on stage.

“I hope you’ve all seen Juror No 1, if not this is going to make very little sense,” joked the Tolkien star as he introduced the movie.

“Hasn’t my boy grown up?” said Collette. “He’s so funny and handsome. We worked together on About a Boy 22 years ago and it’s taken the genius of Clint [Eastwood] to bring us back together.”

Hoult has gone on to success in films and TV, starring in Skins and A Single Man after About a Boy. Meanwhile, Collette won a Primetime Emmy for her work in United States of Tara in 2009, a nomination for Unbelievable (2019), as well as an Academy Award for the 1999 movie The Sixth Sense.

Pair were reunited after 22 years (AFI)

In an interview in 2021, Hoult spoke about what it was like to work with Grant. The actor – who was 11 at the time of filming – told The Guardian: “I was only a kid when I worked with him, but he was so hard-working and diligent – neurotic, almost.

“I can remember him being very specific about beats on the set, and trying things and getting it right. I think you have to be.”

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Hoult and Collette starred as mother and son alongside Hugh Grant (REUTERS/Universal Pictures/Handout)

While the pair didn’t stay in touch much after the movie, Hoult has been watching Grant’s success from afar. “In my head, I’m thinking it’s a kind of Hughnaissance, or something,” he said. “He had so much pressure on him [back then], and to see him free of that and just doing these wonderful dramas.”