'I See Dead People:' How M. Night Shyamalan blew up after two commerical failures

On Aug. 6, 1999 — 25 years ago Tuesday — “The Sixth Sense,” written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan and starring Bruce Willis and Haley Joel Osment, opened in theaters.

Equal parts family drama, psychological thriller and horror movie, “The Sixth Sense” became the second-highest grossing film of 1999 was nominated for six Academy Awards.

A 28-Year-Old Writer & Director

Warning: Spoilers ahead...

Young filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan had bombed with his first movie and then saw his second — a comedy starring Denis Leary, Dana Delany and Rosie O’Donnell that bombed after a three-year gestation — had incurred the wrath of Miramax studio head Harvey Weinstein.

Shyamalan was confident about his work. This reportedly infuriated Weinstein.

Looking for the perfect project to restart his career, Shyamalan decided to create a film from scratch. Inspired by an episode of the 1990s Nickel- odeon children’s series “Are You

Afraid of the Dark?,” Shyamalan wrote a story about a child who can see dead people and an adult who tries to help him without realizing he — the adult — is dead, too.

Shyamalan spent a year refining his work and then began pitching it as a cross between the 1973 horror film “The Exorcist” and 1980’s “Ordinary People.” He sold his script to David Vogel, president of production of Walt Disney Studios, for $3 million and the promise that Shyamalan could direct the film.

M. Night Shyamalan

Disney was displeased with the deal, however. It demoted Vogel — who then left Disney — and sold the movie rights to Spyglass Entertainment, which was, at the time, a one-year-old production company. However, it retained distribution rights to Shyamalan’s project as well as 12.5% of the film’s box office gross.

The resulting film caught everyone off-guard. In Entertainment Weekly’s 1999 Movie Preview, “The Sixth Sense” wasn’t one of the 134 movies listed. Audiences found themselves captivated by the surprise ending and returned to watch the movie multiple times.

The film also earned Shyamalan a reputation for supernatural plots, unconventional storytelling and twist endings. He has said since that he wonders if the film would work if it were released today. “The Sixth Sense” “didn’t have the legacy to deal with. It didn’t have my name to deal with,” he has said.

Shyamalan’s work on “The Sixth Sense” would earn him Oscar nominations for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay.

A Brilliant Script and Cast

Shyamalan had written his script with Bruce Willis in mind for the lead role. In his first draft, Willis’ character was a crime scene photographer, not a child psychologist. The previous year, Willis had bailed out during production of a Disney movie, so he had made a deal to star in three other Disney films. “Armageddon” had been the first.

Shyamalan considered Michael Cera and Liam Aiken for the role of Cole Sear before settling on Haley Joel Osment. The 9-year-old had come off as a “really sweet cherub” — not quite what Shyamalan was looking for — but impressed the director by telling him he had read the script three times. Osment would earn an Oscar nomination for his work.

Toni Collette beat out Marisa Tomei for the role of Cole’s mother. She became moved by the emotional resonance of the story and said she didn’t realize it was a horror movie until it was released. Collette, too, would be nominated for an Oscar and would go on to become a “scream queen,” starring in “Fright Night” in 2011, “Krampus” in 2015 and “Hereditary” in 2018.

Willis spent the evenings throwing parties for the adult cast and crew members, performing as a DJ. and giving Shyamalan shots he called “candy.” “The next morning, I could not get off the sofa,” Shyamalan said. “I didn’t know what this throbbing pain in my head was. He was just laughing his butt off.”

“The Sixth Sense” was released on Aug. 6, 1999 — which also happened to be Shyamalan’s 29th birthday. The film brought in more than $8 million on its opening day and made back its $40 million production budget in less than two weeks. It was rented by 80 million people in 2000, making it the year’s top-rated VHS and DVD title.

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