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'The Sixth Sense' and a career of plot twists : Consider This from NPR
1999 Haley Joel Osment And Bruce Willis Star In “The Sixth Sense.” (Photo By Getty Images)
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1999 Haley Joel Osment And Bruce Willis Star In “The Sixth Sense.” (Photo By Getty Images)
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Twenty-five years ago this month, one film, and one filmmaker, became synonymous with the big plot twist.
Now, if you haven’t seen The Sixth Sense, we won’t ruin it for you, but it’s no spoiler to say that the film became a phenomenon, and its director, M. Night Shyamalan, an overnight sensation.
Brian Hiatt, a senior writer for Rolling Stone says Shyamalan’s career has had twists and turns to rival his movies.
“You know, in the ’90s, it was a great time to be a director, it was a great time to go from almost nothing to superstar,” Hiatt told NPR.
“The faster the rise or the bigger the rise, the sort of harder the fall.”
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The public reaction.
Shyamalan’s rise was fast AND big.
The Sixth Sense became the second highest grossing film of 1999, and was nominated for six Oscars, including Best Picture. By 2002, Newsweek touted him on its cover as “The Next Spielberg.”
But in 2004, with his gothic thriller The Village, things began to go wrong.
“Backlashes don’t happen all at once. They kind of actually can happen in slow motion. And that was the first hint that a backlash was coming,” Hiatt said.
“It was 2004. It had a pretty mixed reception. The promotion of the film was was a little bit overdone at the time. And a lot of people thought the twist was just flat out dumb.”
His next films were not only critically panned, but also flopped at the box office. By the time he made the almost-universally-hated After Earth in 2013, many moviegoers decided that Shyamalan was a sham.
But Hiatt says Shyamalan made a comeback by betting on himself. In 2015 he released The Visit, which he made with a minimal budget and partly financed himself — and earned some of his best reviews in over a decade.
That stripped-down approach has helped fuel a run of recent successes. And Shyamalan hopes for another hit starting this weekend with his latest thriller, Trap.
Propelling from success.
Starring opposite Bruce Willis in The Sixth Sense was young Haley Joel Osment. He was 11 when the film came out — and he grew up in the shadow of the its success, like filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan.
“It makes me very happy that 25 years later he’s gotten an incredible run of movies,” Osment told Consider This host Scott Detrow.
Like his director, Osment never really stopped working. Dramas, comedies, fantasies, voiceovers, TV, movies … he’s now 36 years old and still busy.
But how did he contend such a huge splash, so early on?
“As an actor, it can be an opportunity [to make such an impression], because you can find all these ways to camouflage yourself. One of the most gratifying things you can have happen as an actor is people go like, ‘Oh, I didn’t realize that was you’ in something, which I think actors get a kick out of,” Osment told NPR.
“So I’m 36 now and I feel like, all these new opportunities for roles are opening up to me because of my age. I was able to play so many different types of roles, an unusually diverse group of roles, I was very fortunate to have when I was a kid,” he added.
“And now, I’ve never been afraid of getting older, because it’s just it broadens the horizons of the different types of characters you can play.”
This episode was produced by Marc Rivers. It was edited by Tinbete Ermyas and Patrick Jarenwattananon. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.
Ariana Grande arrives at the 83rd Golden Globes on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif.
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The brightest stars in TV and film kicked off the 83rd annual Golden Globes tonight in Beverly Hills, Calif. with Ariana Grande, Noah Wyle, Teyana Taylor and George Clooney are just some the names who walked the red carpet. This year’s ceremony was hosted by comedian Nikki Glaser.
Here’s a glimpse of what some of the attendees are wearing tonight.
Michael B. Jordan
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Ryan Coogler and Zinzi Evans
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Jean Smart
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Teyana Taylor
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Jenna Ortega
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Owen Cooper
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Sara Wells and Noah Wyle
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Claire Danes
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Stellan Skarsgård and Megan Everett-Skarsgard
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Amy Poehler
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EJAE
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Amanda Anka and Jason Bateman
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Paul Mescal
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Adam Brody and Leighton Meester
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Laufey
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Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons
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Chris Olsen
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Lisa Ann Walter
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Macaulay Culkin and Brenda Song
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Jacob Elordi
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Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco
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Ryan Destiny
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Jennifer Garner
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Rose Byrne
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Kate Hudson
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Snoop Dogg
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Timothée Chalamet
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Miley Cyrus
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George Clooney and Amal Clooney
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Leonardo DiCaprio
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Michel Martin
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Steve Inskeep
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Leila Fadel
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A Martinez
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Ben Falcone and Melissa McCarthy
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Amanda Seyfried
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William Stanford Davis
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Tessa Thompson
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Kathy Bates
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Dax Shepard and Kristen Bell
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Skylar Diggins
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Monica Padman
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Adam Scott and Naomi Scott
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Jayme Lawson
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Maya Rudolph and Paul Thomas Anderson
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Emma Stone
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Natasha Lyonne and Clea DuVall
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Nischelle Turner
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Brett Goldstein
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Parker Posey
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Vince Gilligan
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Chloé Zhao
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Mark Ruffalo and Sunrise Coigney
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Hannah Einbinder
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Sheryl Lee Ralph
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Keegan-Michael Key and Elle Key
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Justin Sylvester
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Judd Apatow and Lesley Mann
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Keltie Knight
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Sarah Snook
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Glen Powell
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Piper Curda
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Justine Lupe
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Helen Hoehne
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Natasha Rothwell
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Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis
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Minnie Driver
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Orlando Bloom
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Hudson Williams
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Connor Storrie
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Erin Doherty
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Wanda Sykes
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Nikki Glaser
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Julia Roberts
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Emily Blunt
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Chris Perfetti
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Rhea Seehorn
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Dakota Fanning
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Queen Latifah
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2026 Golden Globes
Nikki Glaser Shouts Out Rob Reiner …
Dons ‘Spinal Tap’ Hat at Close of Show
Published
Rob Reiner wasn’t forgotten at this year’s Golden Globe awards … because host Nikki Glaser paid tribute to him just weeks after his murder.
Here’s the deal … during the sign-off for the awards show, Nikki came onstage wearing a black and white “Spinal Tap” hat — the band which serves as the subject of Reiner’s iconic 1984 mockumentary of the same name.
Worth noting … the Golden Globes do not typically air an in memoriam — so this was the only time Reiner was mentioned at the show.
As you know … Rob and his wife Michele Singer Reiner were found dead in their Los Angeles home last month. Their son Nick Reiner has been arrested for murder in connection to the case.
TMZ.com
Nick’s arraignment was scheduled for last week … but, his lawyer Alan Jackson dropped out of the case — leaving Nick with a public defender and new arraignment date set for late February.
Jackson told a gaggle of reporters outside the courthouse that Nick’s not guilty … but, he simply can’t defend him. He did not provide a reason for his withdrawal.
Our new documentary “TMZ Investigates The Reiner Murders: What Really Happened” dives into Rob and Michele’s grisly deaths … as well as Nick’s history of mental health issues and even how his weight gain set him on a dangerous path.
“TMZ Investigates The Reiner Murders: What Really Happened” is now streaming on Hulu.
On-air challenge
Today’s puzzle is called “Pet Theory.” Every answer is a familiar two-word phrase or name in which the first word start starts PE- and the second word starts T-. (Ex. What walkways at intersections carry –> PEDESTRIAN TRAFFIC)
1. Chart that lists all the chemical elements
2. Place for a partridge in “The 12 Days of Christmas”
3. Male voyeur
4. What a coach gives a team during halftime in the locker room
5. Set of questions designed to reveal your traits
6. Something combatants sign to end a war
7. Someone who works with you one-on-one with physical exercises
8. Member of the Who
9. Incisors, canines, and premolars that grow in after you’re a baby
10. Nadia Comaneci was the first gymnast to score this at the Olympics
11. What holds the fuel in a British car
Last week’s challenge
Last week’s challenge was a numerical one from Ed Pegg Jr., who runs the website mathpuzzle.com. Take the nine digits — 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. You can group some of them and add arithmetic operations to get 2011 like this: 1 + 23 ÷ 4 x 5 x 67 – 8 + 9. If you do these operations in order from left to right, you get 2011. Well, 2011 was 15 years ago. Can you group some of the digits and add arithmetic symbols in a different way to make 2026? The digits from 1 to 9 need to stay in that order. I know of two different solutions, but you need to find only one of them.
Challenge answer
12 × 34 × 5 – 6 – 7 + 8 – 9 [or] 1 + 2 + 345 × 6 – 7 × 8 + 9
Winner
Daniel Abramson of Albuquerque, N.M.
This week’s challenge
This week’s challenge comes from listener Ward Hartenstein. Think of a well-known couple whose names are often said in the order of _____ & _____. Seven letters in the names in total. Combine those two names, change an E to an S, and rearrange the result to name another famous duo who are widely known as _____ & _____.
If you know the answer to the challenge, submit it below by Thursday, January 15 at 3 p.m. ET. Listeners whose answers are selected win a chance to play the on-air puzzle.
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