This summer it will be possible to mark the 25th anniversary of "The Sixth Sense", the blockbuster horror-drama film that launched two film careers, both of which soon encountered the hard ground of reality.
For the occasion, we used ChatGPT to recap an interview conducted by the website Variety with the two promises of the film - director Manoi Nate Shyamalan and lead actor Haley Joel Osment - 5 years ago, on the 20th anniversary of the cult film.
"The Sixth Sense" was released in theaters on August 6, 1999, and was supposed to be a modest niche film. However, in just two weeks, the film of the director with little experience (before that he released one film, and made another amateur film in which he also starred) did not not only made back its production budget of $40 million, but also soared to become the second-highest-grossing film of 1999, with a total of $673 million. The players, led by 10-year-old Osment.
What we know today as a psychological drama with an original twist was initially conceived as a film about a serial killer, inspired by The Silence of the Lambs.
In the end, the main character underwent a change from a crime photographer to a psychologist, and the extreme change in the script illuminates the twists that shaped the fate of this cinematic masterpiece.
Osment, who played the young boy most famous for the line "I see dead people," recalled the feeling among the cast that they were taking part in something special, even though they didn't know the film's success would be a defining moment in their careers.
The eerie atmosphere of the film extended beyond the screen, as the crew navigated the corridors of the old Philadelphia Convention Center.
Mischa Burton, who played a ghost of a girl, and Osment shared the experience of filming in the dark marble corridors, which created an unintentionally eerie atmosphere.
However, in between scenes he recounted racket games with the other actors around those corridors, which lightened the atmosphere and created chemistry on and off the screen.
As the film unfolded, it revealed unexpected challenges, such as the decision not to use effects to add clouds of breath vapor in cold scenes.
Instead, an ice box was used, which added a layer of authenticity to the actors' shaky performances.
Shamalan, then 29 years old, spent almost a year creating the script, unsure of its direction - as evident by the radical change in it from the initial version to the one released in cinemas.
He talked about the casting process, admitting that Osment left an indelible impression from the moment he read the script.
Bruce Willis and Tony Collette's commitment to their roles overcame initial concerns, with Collette even wearing a wig throughout the film.
Shamalan admits that the film gained huge fame, while his involvement in it is less remembered.
This is in contrast to his subsequent films, most of which received fatal reviews and revenues that were much lower than expected, alongside scandals such as accusations of copying, and even misleading journalists in a desperate attempt to promote Signs, and awarded him with much less desirable titles than their awards he was nominated for "The Sixth Sense", such as "earned the The agreed mockery of his name" (ie the nickname "Shama-Lama-Ding-Dong" attached to him in many articles).
Only in recent years has he managed, little by little, to register an increase in the reviews of his films and the budgets he receives to produce them.
Osment also did not have the promising career that was depicted in this film, and has played mainly supporting roles in dozens of series since then.
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