20 Actors Who Almost Starred In Your Favorite Horror Movies

14. Michael Cera - Cole Sear (The Sixth Sense)

Starting out with a voice-over role at the age of 11 for the animated series Noddy, Michael Cera€™s career path was far from certain in 1998. The first major live action role he auditioned for was the role of the "I see dead people" child lead in M. Night Shyamalan€™s The Sixth Sense, ultimately losing out to Hayley Joel Osmont. The actor explained the experience a few years ago to Esquire:

"I auditioned for The Sixth Sense, which I didn't know was about seeing dead people. They didn't mention that in the breakdown. After seeing the movie, and remembering the scene they had me read... It was the scene with the penny. Bruce Willis is saying, 'I can't be your doctor anymore,' and Haley Joel Osment starts crying and slides the penny over to him. It's a very emotional scene. And I did not do it that way. I did it upbeat. I said 'some magic's real' very optimistically."

Bullet (most likely) dodged. The movie was an instant hit and made Osmont a huge star at the turn of the Millennium, but his career didn't last.