Failed Oscar Campaigns: "The Sixth Sense" (1999)

Scene from The Sixth Sense

As awards seasons pick up, so do the campaigns to make your film have the best chances at the Best Picture race. However, like a drunken stupor, sometimes these efforts come off as trying too hard and leave behind a trailer of ridiculous flamboyance. Join me on every other Saturday for a highlight of the failed campaigns that make this season as much about prestige as it does about train wrecks. Come for the Harvey Weinstein comments and stay for the history. It's going to be a fun time as I explore cinema's rich history of attempting to matter.

The Movie

The Sixth Sense (1999)

Directed By: M. Night Shyamalan

Written By: M. Night Shyamalan

Starring: Bruce Willis, Haley Joel Osment, Toni Collette

Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Running Time 107 minutes

Summary: A boy who communicates with spirits seeks the help of a disheartened child psychologist.

The Movie

Almost 20 years later, everyone has developed their own personal thoughts on M. Night Shyamalan. Where at first he was seen as a prodigy labelled as "The Next Spielberg" by magazines, he has since become a figure of ridicule, winning more Razzies than Oscars with just as much acclaim and box office success to back that statement up. With his latest film Glass earning once again middling reviews, it feels like a good time to look back and wonder why. Why did we once think that Shyamalan was one of the most gifted filmmakers to grace the planet? Surely the man who gifted us The Lady in the Water and After Earth would never be deemed someone of higher praise. 

It does seem likely that a whole generation will never understand the Shyamalan effect that was The Sixth Sense. In 1999, it was a phenomenon. The phrase "I see dead people" became one of cinema's most iconic (and later lampooned) lines in history. It was a horror film that exceeded the reputation of the genre, proving it to be higher art than it was given credit for. In fact, it was the highest grossing original film of 1999, second only to Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace. The film was a sensation like no other, and in the process created the mythos around a 29-year-old filmmaker who had the future ahead of him. The thought that he was a talent to lavish abundance of praise on seems silly now. However, those who have to ask have probably not seen The Sixth Sense.

The magic lies in a film that was ahead of the curve, finding substance in a ghost story that in someone else's hands would've been a pulpy good time. Instead, he created one of the densest experiences of the cinematic year. Every detail hid something greater and the script was airtight - a technique that helped to build his reputation. The fact of the matter is that the film holds up to scrutiny while giving some of the best performances of the year, including one of the most famous child actor performances in Haley Joel Osment. For those wondering how the film could be so big, just know that there was a time when the twist ending wasn't a gimmick but a plot device used to elevate text to something greater. The film was more than one scene and in some ways altered future viewings because of it. Much like Psycho before it, The Sixth Sense's ability to play with form became its lasting legacy despite it having so much more to offer. Those who give it a chance will know this. You will see dead people, but there's so much more hiding in it.

- The Campaign -

It seems strange now, but Disney subsidiary Buena Vista would take a chance on Shyamalan: a fairly untested director whose previous films were more equivalent to student films than the blockbusters he would become known for. With an expensive buy for the script, the film went into production with an odd track record. It was one of three films from that year that Bruce Willis starred in to get out of his contract. Toni Collette was coming from indie films and this was her first studio feature. Osment was a child actor prodigy, previously seen in the likes of Best Picture winner Forrest Gump briefly. Donnie Wahlberg lost 43 pounds for his role. This was  all for a horror film, a ghost story that was being helmed by an untested filmmaker with lofty ambitions and a script that would become legendary by the end of 1999 when the film was released on his 29th birthday (August 9, 1999). He saw it as guidance from a spiritual force, and it was as close to that as any film has gotten.

The film's limited release saw it debut in eighth place at the box office. The expansion proved to be something greater. It is likely thanked to the positive word of mouth that emphasized this surreal experience that featured one of the most memorable twists in film history as well as marketing with the excellent line "I see dead people." It was a singular vision and one that captured audiences' attention. Following the expansion, the film would spend five weeks atop the box office thanks to its reputation. It was an incredible feat that, among other things, saw the film gross $672.8 million internationally. Adjusted for inflation, it's the third highest grossing domestic horror film in American history (possibly even higher) behind Jaws and The Exorcist. It was a film with a lot to prove, and it captivated audiences who didn't usually go for the horror genre.

There's a lot that could be speculated about how the film would play even 10 years later. For starters, an appeal of the film's twist ending was that there was no other way to witness it otherwise. The internet, in its infantile state, didn't have discussion boards dissecting every moment. All that could be done was to go out and see the film, as even piracy was a concept that wouldn't evolve until the 21st century. In an era where spoiler culture influences a lot of pop culture, The Sixth Sense seems vulnerable and incapable of being satisfying. People are just as likely to watch the twist on YouTube with scene-by-scene breakdowns as they are to actually see it. Also considering that horror as a genre hasn't had a great reputation in the years since (for instance, James Wan's The Conjuring is among the most successful modern horror while still being close to $400 million lower than The Sixth Sense). It could be that Shyamalan's horror was rooted in drama more than jump scares, but it's also just that he was that good of a director. He knew how to make audiences look for clues, which could only be done by buying tickets.

The reputation as "The Next Spielberg" would follow shortly after, but it felt like the concept was blooming early into the film's success. Along with people parodying the line "I see dead people," the concept of the twist became notorious. It would come to define horror movie marketing, following a "You won't believe what happens next" style of advertising that was often misguided or tacked on for dramatic effect. Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense elevated it to an art form and in the process found a way to make his future a bit doomed. He was the prodigy, but he was also the twist guy. It became something to anticipate, and that frankly takes a lot out of a film's appeal if audiences are expecting something to impress them on such a visceral level. Still in 1999, he was 29 and had Hollywood seeking his great insight into the movie experience. Whatever he did next was destined to be just as brilliant and methodical.

While The Silence of the Lambs arguably made horror films reputable by prestigious audiences, The Sixth Sense's indisputable success did plenty to launch a mythology of one of Hollywood's strangest careers. After all, the film was made for only $40 million and would gross over 15 times its budget. If that's not a success, then what is? It was a film that helped to briefly make the horror genre seem like more than disposable gimmickry. It placed the value of storytelling into a genre prism that would only be adopted by the smartest of filmmakers in the future, whether it be for films like The Others or Get Out. Still, none of them compared to the legendary success that came with a film that launched a career full of triumph and ridicule. The only thing for certain though was that the kid had enough talent to make original stories that mattered. It was something worthy of celebrating and, in a modern sense, could've won the fabled Best Popular Film Oscar had the category been around in 1999 and not a total joke. Instead, it's still one of the greatest films of all time, let alone best horror films. 

- The Payoff -

The film's popularity translated to the Academy Awards with a certain amount of success. For starters, the film earned six Oscar nominations that included Best Picture. It earned Shyamalan his only two nominations: Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. He'd lose all three of these to the film American Beauty. The film also scored acting nominations for Osment and Collette, the latter of whom was the only Best Supporting Actress nominee who was also nominated that year for a Best Picture nominee. It was their only acting nominations for their entire career. Considering that Collette has earned rave reviews for the 2018 horror film Hereditary, there is an off chance that she will get a nomination (*note: this was published prior to the 2019 Oscar nominations announcement). It was the highest grossing Best Picture nominee, outdoing American Beauty by over $320 million. It also set a precedent for horror in the Best Picture field that wouldn't be fully recognized until decades later when Get Out earned similar raves and success, though managing to win where Shyamalan didn't.

It was one of not even 10 horror films to ever be nominated for Best Picture, and that was an incredible feat. Shyamalan theoretically came out of nowhere and changed Hollywood entirely. He made a film that made audiences care, discussing plot details in the hopes of better understanding its depth. He made movies for the masses that were also smart enough to say something complex. It's a reputation that would hold, if temporarily, for the next few films. While his follow-up Unbreakable was considered a mild hit at the time, it still earned half as much as The Sixth Sense and has been reassessed as a a classic. Similarly, Signs and The Village featured the director earning enough praise to warrant "The Next Spielberg" comparisons, though he has yet to get back into the Oscars conversation as of 2018 (Glass' success at the Oscars is TBD). 

Many have considered what followed after to be farcical, of a filmmaker collapsing underneath his own ego. To some extent, the magic was never able to match The Sixth Sense because he was the guy who did twist movies. There was no way around it. Even when he did produce modestly good films since, he would have scrutiny applied to it that would sink enthusiasm. Even films he produced (most notably Devil) would be ridiculed in theaters. For a prodigy of cinema, he was losing his magical touch, becoming the latest in a long line of directors who got accused of receiving too much praise that early in their careers. What is ignored is that Shyamalan, for better and worse, was always a genre filmmaker and appealed to the fantasy and horror side of things. He hasn't strayed far from this, which at least makes whatever success he's earned since a tad more admirable. It may not be The Sixth Sense great, but similarly Francis Ford Coppola's career following The Godfather has been shadowed by that film's status as the greatest film of its kind. The Sixth Sense will continued to be talked about as a groundbreaking achievement, and the historical documents prove that there was plenty of love for it at the time. With that said, Shyamalan as a filmmaker will be judged in far harsher terms, some of it even unearned. Still, he launched his Hollywood career in ways that many would envy, and that's enough to get excited about.