The Sixth Sense

Hey, Do You Remember...?

Christopher Schrader

Tv & Film, Comedy

4.8 • 676 Ratings

🗓️ 15 May 2020

⏱️ 89 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

M. Night Shymalan has become a somewhat controversial figure and he's certainly had his share of ups and downs as a filmmaker, but way back in 1999, no one was walking into The Sixth Sense with any preconceived notions or expectations. In fact, it was probably the last time that would be the case for any of his movies.

The twist ending played like gangbusters and the resulting word of mouth transformed this modestly-budgeted thriller into the second highest grossing film of the year. Of course, this one has a lot more going for it than its big reversal, but somewhere along the way we reduced its pop culture cache to that final scene and the line "I see dead people".

So let's go back and figure out how The Sixth Sense pulled off its magic trick, why repeat viewings are just as rewarding, and what makes Shymalan such a polarizing filmmaker.

Check it out! You can now get HDYR merch exclusively through TeePublic!

Patreon / iTunes / Stitcher / RSS / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram

About The Show

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hey, do you remember the sixth sense?
0:06.6	Hello and welcome to Hey, You Remember, a show where we reminisce about a movie or TV series we grew up with, then take off the rose-tinted glasses to see how it holds up.
0:31.7	I'm Chris.
0:32.4	I'm Donna.
0:33.2	And I'm Carlos.
0:34.2	And today we're revisiting The Sixth Sense.
0:53.0	Yeah. I'm Carlos. And today we're revisiting the Sixth Sense. It was the spring of 1997.
0:56.3	Bruce Willis was 20 days into the production of the Broadway Brawler,
1:00.7	a $30 million romantic comedy in the vein of Jerry Maguire in which he played a washed-up hockey player.
1:07.6	Filming had begun harmoniously enough, but as the days rolled on, the cast and crew noticed that Willis was trying to exert more and more control.
1:15.6	He was directing the other actors, demanding more screen time, and clashing with filmmaker Lee Grant over her approach to the material.
1:23.6	And then, because he was also a producer on the project, Willis had the authority to walk into work one morning and fire Grant, her producing partner, the cinematographer, and the costume designer.
1:36.3	Disney had already spent $17 million on the production, and this setback meant that if they decided to move forward, they'd essentially be starting from scratch.
1:44.5	So although it's incredibly rare for the plug to be pulled on a high-profile project with an A-list
1:49.9	star attached, they felt that this one was caught in a tailspin that it could not pull out of.
1:55.7	As the dust settled, they worked out a compromise with Willis. He signed a three-picture deal with
2:00.4	the studio,
2:01.3	with the understanding that a percentage of his salary for each film would go towards
2:05.5	repaying that $17 million. The first of those three movies was Armageddon, the last was
2:10.9	Disney's The Kid, and in-between was a modestly budgeted supernatural horror film that they
2:16.8	didn't have much faith in or enthusiasm for.
2:20.0	The sixth sense.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Christopher Schrader, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Christopher Schrader and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.