Child actor Haley Joel Osment recently spoke about his experience filming M. Night Shyamalan’s 1999 psychological thriller “The Sixth Sense.” Osment, who played the leading child role of Cole Sear, reflected that there was little effort made to keep the film’s famous twist ending private at the time of production. According to Osment, the makers of “The Sixth Sense” did not try hard to protect the big secret because people could not easily share spoilers online back then as they can today.
Osment does not remember any meetings or instructions about keeping the twist ending concealed. He said this contrasted with current film productions that strongly focus on avoiding spoilers. Osment noted the internet was less widespread in the late 1990s and people had to get film developed after taking photos instead of posting things online immediately. Shyamalan and the cast hoped word-of-mouth would keep “The Sixth Sense” in the top three box office films for a couple weeks after release. Nobody foresaw it becoming the number one film and a global phenomenon.
The twist – that Bruce Willis’s character had actually been dead the whole time – shocked audiences worldwide. Osment said the secret only started being strictly guarded after the film achieved unexpected international success. The young actor also reflected on how much more the film industry now emphasizes confidentiality agreements, even for minor roles.
While launching Shyamalan’s career, the immense popularity of “The Sixth Sense” brought both rewards and pressures. Audiences wanted similar surprises in the director’s subsequent movies. Yet despite some following works disappointing fans yearning for equal twists, Shyamalan has sustained his career with recent hits like “Old” and is still renowned for “The Sixth Sense,” remembering a time before intense spoiler caution defined the business.
