Night Shyamalan’s signature thriller in a conversation withEntertainment Weekly.
Below, Osment discusses the supportive voicemails he received from costarBruce Willis, the similarities between Shyamalan and hisA.I.
Artificial IntelligencedirectorSteven Spielberg, his disturbing performance in this year’sBlink Twice, and much more.
Haley Joel Osment.Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: How does it feel to be 25 years removed fromThe Sixth Sense?
How did your experience on set differ from your prior projects?
I’d done a couple features, but nothing with subject matter that dark.
Haley Joel Osment at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2019.John Lamparski/WireImage
So the amount of preparation that was required was on a different level than what I’d had before.
I think that made a huge difference with the quality of what we got to put on screen.
What types of direction did M. Night Shyamalan give you to guide your performance?
Bruce Willis and Haley Joel Osment in ‘The Sixth Sense’.Everett Collection
Night said, “We’re not going to treat the audience that way.
Your character is obviously very haunted and emotionally vulnerable.
How did it feel to play those kinds of emotions on screen every day as a young kid?
Bruce Willis at the 2019 premiere of M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Glass’.Tolga Akmen/AFP/Getty
It was a challenge, because my life was completely different from that character’s.
The movie is quite dark, especially for a PG-13 project.
How aware were you of the totality of the darkness of the movie as you filmed it?
Toni Collette and Haley Joel Osment in ‘The Sixth Sense’.Mary Evans/HOLLYWOOD PICTURES/Ronald Grant/Everett
Nothing went over my head.
So you were completely aware of the twist going into the movie?
We didn’t have to shoot any fake endings or anything like that to throw people off.
Teddy, Haley Joel Osment, and Jude Law in Steven Spielberg’s ‘A.I. Artificial Intelligence’.Everett
Did you feel the weight and the heaviness of the thematic content while shooting?
It’s kind of like how people really enjoy Halloween, and I enjoy Halloween as a holiday.
It’s got that freaky, spooky vibe, but it can be a fun thing.
‘Blink Twice’.Courtesy of Amazon
I think it’s one of the reasons why horror is such a popular genre.
And itwasHalloween: we shot it in Philadelphia in October, which felt appropriate.
What was it like working with Bruce Willis?
1 on the call sheet.
Was there anything about his performance or his dynamic on set that surprised you?
Tolga Akmen/AFP/Getty
Have you had any contact or interactions with him since the initial heyday of the movie?
I heard from him a lot after it came out in those subsequent years.
He’d leave voicemails at the house from time to time, just checking in.
He would just call out of the blue, so sometimes it was in the lead up before travel.
We went to Japan together twice, if I remember correctly, to openSixth Sensein different cities.
Just saying hi.”
I need to find those old answering tapes.
I know we preserved those.
What was it like working withToni Collette?
It’s just a phenomenal performance.
Everybody was a phenomenal actor.
Have you kept in touch with Toni or with Night in the subsequent years?
It has been a longer time since I’ve seen Toni.
And also, normally when you work on something, it comes out and then that’s it.
And all that was very exciting.
What are your memories of that Academy Awards where you were nominated for Best Supporting Actor?
I know you were up againstTom Cruise, andMichael Caineended up winning.
Yeah, it was Tom andJude LawandMichael Clarke Duncanand Michael Caine and yeah, Michael Caine ended up winning.
And I was sitting in a row withClint Eastwood, I think.
It was very, very memorable.
Was there any discussion of that Oscars night when you worked with Michael Caine onSecondhand Lions?
So that was nice that we had those two different connections.
You also worked with Jude Law onA.I.
And that was immediately after too.
Unfortunately, Michael Clark Duncan has passed away.
Everett
In his early career, Shyamalan was hailed as “the next Steven Spielberg.”
You’re one of the few people who worked with both NightandSpielberg.
What’s your perception of how they compare and contrast as filmmakers?
I haven’t really thought about that.
It was a terrific experience with both of them.
Acting and my approach to it is so specific to the character and the scene that you’re doing.
That made a big impression on me.
They always played along with me even when they were off-camera.
What was the most fun day or scene that you remember from shooting?
Those are really happy memories.
So when Trevor Morgan was on set or working withMischa Barton, those were fun days.
What was the most difficult day or scene?
The scene with me and Toni in the car.
That was when we walked away going like, “Oh, I really hope we got it.”
We’re happy with what went up on screen."
Courtesy of Amazon
You recently played a supporting role inBlink Twice.
How did that come about?
Zoe Kravitzjust sent me the script in early 2022.
How did that compare toThe Sixth Sense?
It was fun getting to be on the darker side of things.
How didSixth Senseimpact the projects you made after it came out?
Everything starts from there.
What do you see asThe Sixth Sense’s cultural legacy 25 years on?
And I think that’s a timeless story that goes back through our entire history as a species.
So I hope people will continue to get something out of it for years to come.
The Sixth Sensereleases on 4K UHD Blu-ray for the first time on Oct. 22.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
