Half-Assed Internet Research
Budget and grosses; Oscars; casting preparation; career correction; Disney deal; audition; rentals; drafts; costumes; color; reported inspiration; soundtrack spoiler
In the discussion (18)
Approx. transcript time · 00:12:13Read transcript
- The film reportedly cost 40 million dollars and earned 672.8 million worldwide.
- Six Oscar nominations covered picture, director, screenplay, supporting actor, supporting actress and editing.
- Frank Marshall reportedly wanted the revealing cut toward Willis removed after Cole says he sees dead people.
- Wahlberg reportedly lost 40 pounds and shaved his eyebrows for his brief appearance.
- The claim that this was Shyamalan’s second film is explicitly corrected: Praying with Anger preceded Wide Awake, making it his third.
- Shyamalan also reportedly rewrote She’s All That without credit and held a Stuart Little writing credit.
- David Vogel reportedly paid 3 million for the script and Shyamalan’s directing guarantee without corporate approval, then lost his Disney position.
- Disney reportedly sold production rights to Spyglass while retaining distribution and 12.5 percent of receipts.
- Osment impressed Shyamalan by reading the entire script three times rather than only his part.
- The movie reportedly had 80 million rentals in 2000 and was omitted from Entertainment Weekly’s 1999 summer preview.
- Early drafts made Malcolm a crime-scene photographer, potentially explaining the wardrobe.
- Willis reportedly owed Disney films after Broadway Brawler collapsed and accepted 10 million dollars, half his usual fee.
- A claim that the kitchen glass originated as Philadelphia-only sour-cream packaging is explicitly doubted.
- Red marks contact with the other world or heightened emotion, including the church, birthday, tent, recorder, basement doorknob, restaurant, wake and Anna’s shawl.
- Young Sherlock Holmes’s novelization reportedly uses the phrase Sixth Sense; shared filmmakers and Osment’s later AI role are noted.
- Malcolm’s clothes are reportedly pieces worn or touched on the night of his death.
- A reported Are You Afraid of the Dark? inspiration involves a boy who discovers he is dead because only his sister can see him.
- The soundtrack reportedly spoils the ending with a final track titled Malcolm Is Dead.