Random Behind Scenes, ‘Sixth Sense’ Was A Weird Underdog Story (19 items)

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  (#2) Haley Joel Osment

  • Actor

  When Shyamalan saw Osment's video audition tape, he didn't think the young actor was right for the part of Cole. The writer-director envisioned Cole as a brooding, enigmatic kid, and he saw Osment as a "really sweet cherub, kind of beautiful, blond boy."

  Then Osment had an in-person audition. "There was something magical about his audition," Shyamalan recalled in a 2019 interview with The Hollywood Reporter. "He nailed it with the vulnerability and the need... He was able to convey a need as a human being in a way that was amazing to see."

  The writer-director told THR that after Osment's audition, he remarked to the casting director that he didn't know if he would want to make the movie if Osment didn't get the part.

  The young actor was well prepared for his audition - when asked by Shyamalan if he read his part, Osment replied that he read the entire script three times the night before (reportedly on the urging of his father, himself an actor). Osment was reportedly also the only child auditioning for the role who wore a tie.
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  (#15) One Scene Got Cut Because It May Have Been Considered Too Frightening

  A few years ago, Osment revealed in a Reddit Q&A session that he filmed a scene where his character looks out of the hospital window and sees an entire wing full of horribly disfigured people standing in the other windows, but that Shyamalan cut the scene from the finished film.

  Osment thought that was the right decision because instead of being too gory, The Sixth Sense allows the audience's imagination to take over - which is often more terrifying than anything shown on screen.
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  (#6) The Executive Who Bought The Script Ended Up Getting Fired

  David Vogel was the President of Disney's Buena Vista Motion Picture Group at the time that he decided to buy Shyamalan's spec script, with the additional clause that Shyamalan would direct the project.

  The problem was that Vogel had not gotten the go-ahead to buy the script from any of his superiors. His decision to purchase the project - along with his refusal to give up some of his power - is thought to be among the reasons that Vogel ended up being fired.

  Disney seemingly had so little faith in the project that they not only fired Vogel, but also sold the production rights to Spyglass Entertainment (although the studio did retain distribution rights and got a percentage of the box office receipts).
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  (#5) Bids On The Spec Script Had To Start At A Minimum Of $1 Million

  When M. Night Shyamalan went to Los Angeles in 1997 to pitch his spec script for this psychological horror film, he had a reputation in Hollywood as a talented screenwriter, but had yet to have any commercial success as either a writer or director. That didn't keep him from putting stipulations on The Sixth Sense's script - if anyone was interested in it, bids would have to start at $1,000,000, and Shyamalan would have to be attached to direct the film.

  In 2019, Shyamalan told The Hollywood Reporter that he hadn't been bluffing about his demands. He remembered that he told his agent, "It's fine if no one wants to pay that money for it. If they don't want to make it, I will shelve it."

  The writer-director's faith was rewarded, as the script became the object of a bidding war that was eventually won by Hollywood Pictures at a price of somewhere between $2.2 and $3 million.
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  (#3) Bruce Willis

  • Actor

  In 1997, Willis was slated to produce and star in a romantic comedy entitled Broadway Brawler. But when a dispute between the actor and the director led to the film being shut down just weeks into production, Disney and Willis came to an agreement in which he would commit to star in two other films for the company instead, at a reduced fee of $10 million each. One of these films turned out to be The Sixth Sense.

  David Vogel, the head of Buena Vista Motion Picture Group, sent the script to the actor's agent thinking Willis wouldn't want to do a small-budget film with an unknown writer-director. He was surprised to learn the actor wanted to play the role of the child psychologist.

  "When I read [the script for] Sixth Sense, I was as fooled when I turned that last page, that last couple, the last three pages of that script, I was blown away by the fact that my character was dead," the actor said in a 2002 interview with Reader's Digest. "I didn’t see it coming. And that’s what made me want to do it. I went, 'If we can pull this off, it would be brilliant.'"

  At first, there was a condition to Willis playing the role. "The script is good, but Night's [Shyamalan] not directing," Willis's agent told the executive. So Vogel thought Willis would withdraw from the project after being told that Shyamalan would indeed direct the film. Luckily, his agent backed off from demanding that Shyamalan be replaced.
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  (#7) Donnie Wahlberg

  The former New Kids on the Block member lost 43 pounds in five weeks in order to portray the role of Vincent, a tortured patient of Dr. Malcolm.

  Wahlberg told The Hollywood Reporter that Shyamalan said his scene had to "kickstart" the whole movie. He explained that he tried to ignore the burden of responsibility and just honor the script and focus on what he needed as an actor to play the part.

  It was after the first table read that Wahlberg came up with the idea of Vincent being unclothed in the scene. Both Willis and Shyamalan liked the idea, so the actor began the process of dropping the 40+ pounds, staying with a friend in New York City and living without having his credit cards or any money.

  "I would fast for a couple of days at a time and then just eat vegetables, chew gum all day and then walk the streets," he told THR. "When I got to Philadelphia, I slept in the park one night and was going through this really crazy process." 

  Because the film's producers were aiming for a PG-13 rating, Wahlberg's original plan to be bare in the scene was nixed. But his dedication to his role didn't go unnoticed - one day on set "[Willis] just made this speech, talking about the efforts I went through and the sacrifice I made for his film," Wahlberg recalled in the THR piece. "I was just blown away."

  Shyamalan was also impressed by the actor's dedication, telling THR that Wahlberg "really set a bar for us in a wonderful way of unexpectedness and standard of verisimilitude that really permeated the whole production. We went from 'Hey, this is a fun movie' to 'People are really taking this seriously.'"

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