20 Things You Didn't Know About The Sixth Sense

Celebrating 20 years of M. Night Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense.

by Andrew Pollard
The Sixth Sense
Buena Vista Pictures

Back in 1999, M. Night Shyamalan came from out of nowhere to become one of the brightest young filmmakers in the game as he gave audiences The Sixth Sense.

Up until that point, Shyamalan had written, directed and starred in low-budget comedy Praying with Anger in 1992 and then been on writing and directing duties for 1998's under-the-radar comedy Wide Awake. With The Sixth Sense, though, Shyamalan was propelled to the front of the queue where Hollywood's 'hot young things' were concerned.

That movie famously left audiences with their jaws agape at the twist ending that saw Bruce Willis' character of Malcolm having actually been dead for the majority of the movie. At the time, it's hard to explain just how shocking that twist was - and it was a shocker that made The Sixth Sense an absolutely must-see movie of its time, with word of mouth creating a huge buzz around the picture.

So here we are in 2019, then, with The Sixth Sense now celebrating 20 years since its initial cinema release. Time flies when you're seeing dead people, right?

With that in mind, what better time to look back at 20 things you didn't know about M. Night Shyamalan's masterpiece.

20. Michael Cera Auditioned For The Cole Role

The Sixth Sense
Columbia Pictures

Haley Joel Osment famously played the role of Cole in M. Night Shyamalan’s The Sixth Sense, and that role thrust the youngster completely into the Hollywood spotlight.

One person who also auditioned for that particular role, though, was a young Michael Cera.

Cera has famously gone on to star in the likes of Superbad, Juno, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, and Arrested Development, but back in 1998 he failed to land one of The Sixth Sense’s key roles.

According to the actor himself, he completely misjudged the character of Cole and went on to do a cheery, joyful audition for what was ultimately to be a solemn, introverted, and troubled character.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.