At the end of the last millennium, a rather unusual film called The Sixth Sense was released. And although he was positioned primarily as a mystical thriller, he was not an ordinary horror movie. Its plot concerned not only mysterious mysteries that excite the imagination, but also simple human relationships, which helped this film enter the treasury of world cinema, and also brought him many prestigious nominations and awards.
The background of the film
The scriptwriter and director of the film The Sixth Sense was an American screenwriter originally from India M. Knight Shyamalan. Prior to this project, he made several not-so-famous films based on his own scripts. The golden ticket to Hollywood for him was the script of the film "Stuart Little", but the director of this tape was different. Encouraged by the success, Shyamalan wrote a new mystical story that interested Hollywood producers and work on the film was soon begun. In one of the interviews, the director admitted that he got the plot of The Sixth Sense from the children's series “Are you Afraid of the Dark?”, Which was popular in the first half of the nineties. However, Knight pretty reworked and improved it beyond recognition.
The plot of the Sixth Sense
The film tells about the successful child psychologist Malcolm Crow, whom his former patient tried to kill - in the recent past, the doctor could not help.
Soon, the doctor has a chance to correct his mistake: a little boy is turning to him with similar symptoms. Understanding his case, Malcolm soon learns that the baby sees the dead. At first, he does not believe the patient, but over time he becomes convinced of his rightness and helps the boy to use his “gift” correctly. At the same time, the young patient becomes attached to Malcolm and helps the psychiatrist solve his problems with his wife.
Malcolm Crowe: Bruce Willis
Now the famous "Die Hard" began his television career in the very early nineties. At first, these were episodic roles in various films. The first success on television was the lead role in the television series Detective Agency Moonlight. However, despite the success of the project, which was broadcast for five seasons, the actor tried himself in other projects. Among them was the romantic comedy Blind Date, where the legendary Kim Basinger played with Bruce . But the role of the New York policeman John McClain, who alone confronts the greedy terrorists who captured the high-rise on Christmas Eve, brought real fame to the actor.
Thanks to this character, the actor forever gained the glory of the courageous hero of the militants, always ready to come to the rescue. Bruce has addressed this image more than once.
Having achieved success in film and television, the actor began to try himself in unusual projects trying to go beyond the usual image of a single hero. One of the first attempts was the role of a drunken plastic surgeon, whose wife and lover suddenly turned into zombies. Then there was a series of successful and not very projects, until in 1999 the artist starred in Shyamalan's film “The Sixth Sense”. The actors of this film did not work together before him, which is probably why they did not have time to become familiar with the audience, for whom the duet Willis - Osment was an unexpected discovery. It is noteworthy that Bruce's earnings for this film were significantly less than his usual fee. Perhaps this is due to the desire of the actor to try his hand at unusual projects.
After The Sixth Sense, which despite its modest budget brought its creators over half a billion profits, Willis’s career crawled up and even after so many years he remains loved by viewers and directors. Unfortunately, despite the worldwide popularity, the actor is the owner of a small number of awards: two Emmys, one Golden Globe and immediately three anti-rewards Golden Raspberry. But despite this, many of the films with his participation are included in the treasury of world cinema precisely because of his unique style of play.
The Sixth Sense: actor boy Hayley Joel Osment
Unlike his partner on the set, young Osment earned great love among members of the American Film Academy.
So, after the unexpected grandiose success of this project, numerous nominations and awards fell on it. Although other actors in the film The Sixth Sense were not left without deserved fame, Osment, despite his rather young age, became a real star. As an eleven-year-old, he was already nominated for the prestigious Golden Globe, Saturn and Oscar awards.
However, the first acting fame came to a talented boy a few years before Shyamalan's film. Having played in a pizza advertisement, the future actor from The Sixth Sense was noticed by Robert Zemeckis and got a small but vivid role in Forest Gump. Despite the excellent play of adult
actors, the boy managed not to get lost, but to stand out against their background, and after the completion of this project he became a welcome guest on television.
Before listening to the role of Cole in The Sixth Sense, a talented boy, despite his young age, he read the entire script three times. In addition, he was the only one of all applicants for this role who came to audition in a tie.
After the role of a boy seeing ghosts, Osment became often invited to the central roles in the movies. So, in the following years, they released such unforgettable films as “Pay Another”, Edges of The Lord, “Artificial Intelligence”. All of them were enthusiastically received by spectators and critics. Unfortunately, as the miracle boy grew older, they began to invite him to the movies less, although he is still starring, albeit not in projects of the level of the film The Sixth Sense. Actors more experienced and adults can only envy his achievements in such a short time. In the new year, three films with his participation will be released immediately. In addition, the grown actor has for many years been the voice of one of the characters in the cult video game Kingdom Hearts.
The Sixth Sense: actors who played minor roles
In addition to the unforgettable acting duet Willis - Osment, other actors appeared in the film "The Sixth Sense", which later became famous.
Among them are Australian actress Tony Collett.
Despite her unusual appearance, she was able to make a successful career in Hollywood. Before the Sixth Sense project, Collette had already once been nominated for a Golden Globe, but the role of a divorced mother working in two jobs to raise her unusual son made her an Oscar nominee. After participating in this project, she became quite in demand in the profession and remains so until now.
The second star lit by The Sixth Sense was Misha Barton, who played a ghost girl poisoned by an evil stepmother.
Prior to this film, the young actress played in the theater and acted in films. However, after this project, she concentrated her attention on television series and achieved success in this field. A couple of years after the release of The Sixth Sense, Barton became the star of the series Lonely Hearts. After that, there were many different roles in the movie, until due to personal problems, the actress did not suspend her career. Today she is back in service - this year with her participation, the film Father will be released, as well as the series Recovery Road and the television show Dancing with the Stars.
Another bright heroine of the project was the British Olivia Williams.
To the domestic audience, she is better known as an actress in costumed British films. However, in this film, she performed the touching and tender wife of the protagonist. After The Sixth Sense, her career, like that of others, abruptly went uphill.
Nominations and awards
The unexpected phenomenal success and numerous nominations in the first place provided the film “The Sixth Sense” with the actors and the roles that they so beautifully embodied. For participating in the project, H.J. Osment, in addition to numerous nominations (Golden Globe, Oscar), received the MTV coveted award as "Breakthrough of the Year 2000 among Men." Willis was also nominated for the same prize, unfortunately, he was not awarded it. The brilliant Tony Collett and director Shyamalan brought the tape several more nominations for the Oscar, it is a pity that they never received these awards. But in 2003, when the film was released on DVD, the Cannes Film Festival awarded the Sixth Sense prize for the best DVD design.
Years passed, a lot has changed, but this film continues to be relevant and hurt everyone who watches it. It’s difficult to say what’s so catching in this tape: the unusual and touching script of the film “The Sixth Sense”, the actors who so emotionally conveyed the experiences of their heroes on the screen, or the inexhaustible interest of mankind in the unknown and mystical - in any case, this film is worth watching for everyone .