The Sixth Sense is one of the best thriller movies of ’90s. It’s the film that established M Night Shyamalan as a writer and director, and gave us one of Bruce Willis’s greatest performances. Toni Collette plays no small part in the horror movie either, though coming on board got a mixed reaction from her.
As she explained to Yahoo, she was up for another project that didn’t come through, making Shyamalan’s drama movie a consolation prize of sorts. “I was actually in New York meeting Martin Scorsese for a film called Bringing Out the Dead,” she says. “And I was so enamoured by Marty and obviously wanted to [work with him]. I knew about him. I didn’t know who Night was. So I was kind of focused on trying to work with Scorsese.”
A call came from her agent with an offer, but sadly it wasn’t what she was hoping for. “I thought he was saying ‘You’ve been offered Bringing Out the Dead,’ and he said, ‘You’ve been offered The Sixth Sense’,” she remembers. “And I was like, [disappointedly], ‘Aw’.”
Though working with Scorsese would’ve been a career highlight, because who doesn’t want to collaborate with the man behind Taxi driver and Goodfellas, The Sixth Sense proved the more lucrative opportunity. It was one of the highest-grossing movies of 1999, creating a touchstone for all involved.
Bringing out the Dead, a somber film featuring Nicolas Cage as an ambulance driver, didn’t quite do well. That said, Paul Schrader wrote the script and John Goodman and Ving Rhames were both in the cast, making it a stacked proposition for any actor. Alas, Collette is still trying to do something with Scorsese, so hopefully that comes to fruition for her.
She’s been adding more scary movies to her filmography of late, featuring in Ari Aster’s Hereditary and Netflix movie I’m Thinking of Ending Things. Have a look at our lists of the best vampire movies and best monster movies for more creepy viewings.