Haley Joel Osment, ‘Sixth Sense’ Star, Is Content 25 Years Later

Osment remembers being in a condo in Philadelphia, where “The Sixth Sense” was shot, staring out his bedroom window at the city skyline and, for research, absorbing fear-inducing, previously forbidden movies like “Alien” and “Poltergeist.” But he understood that “Sixth Sense” was ultimately not about ghosts or jump-scares. “It’s about perhaps the most frightening thing of all — not being able to communicate to people that you care about,” he said, adding, “I think that’s its most enduring legacy.”

His own standing in the industry isn’t something Osment spends much time on. “He just doesn’t seem very showbizzy to me,” said his friend Scott Aukerman, host of “Comedy Bang! Bang!,” the mock talk-show podcast and TV series on which Osment appeared as a loopy hanger-on. Unlike other stars who made cameos, Aukerman said, Osment never looked down on the material or what he was being asked to do. “I think he was in a romance with a mermaid. It was just total stupidity,” Aukerman said.

Osment is a comedy nerd, a game podcast guest and an Upright Citizens Brigade monologuist. And, his sister bragged, “he has one of the best pratfalls I’ve ever seen. He was just over at my house, and he did it in the kitchen for us.” He’s also a music obsessive. “He’s always texting me Spotify links, as well as pictures of his dog in the middle of the night,” Aukerman said. (Osment has two jealous mutts, Dorothy and Betty.)

Especially after seeing the 35-year-old Kravitz at the helm of her own movie — and thinking back to the 29-year-old Shyamalan gambling on “The Sixth Sense” — Osment now has ambitions to write and direct.

Until then, he has found contentment right where he is. “The career path as an actor is like, you can kind of just keep doing it until you drop dead one day, which is what I’d like to do,” he said. The life is worthwhile, he said, simply if people enjoy his work. “If they have a good night watching this movie at home with friends or family, that makes me feel like I’ve accomplished something.”