Haley Joel Osment Reveals Bruce Willis’ Great Way to Keep in Touch After ‘The Sixth Sense’

Haley Joel Osment revealed that he heard “a lot” from Bruce Willis as his co-star called his house to check in in the years after the release of “The Sixth Sense” in 1999.

The actor reflected on the voicemails Willis left “from time to time” while he spoke to Entertainment Weekly in honor of the 25th anniversary of the horror film M. Night Shyamalan.

“He would call out of the blue, so sometimes it was leading up to the trip,” said Osment, who added that they went to Japan together twice to open “The Sixth Sense” in different cities.

Osment continued, “So he would call ahead of time, and sometimes I would just come home from school and the answering machine would flash and he would say, ‘Hey, Haley Joel. Just say hello. ”

Osment, whose performance as Cole Sear earned him both an Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nomination, described working with Willis as “fantastic.”

Osment, who was 10 years old when “The Sixth Sense” was filmed, said he was “old enough to have seen a lot” of Willis’ films, so there was a lot of excitement around the collaboration.

“And that’s something that will last your entire career, where you get to work with people that you liked in other things,” Osment said.

“And it made a huge impression on me because that was the first huge celebrity I had worked with at an age where I was aware of his stardom.”

He later said that Willis “did everything in such a cool way” and “had such charisma,” so he wanted him on set to set the tone.

Osment told EW he had to find his old answering machine tapes, noting that he hasn’t spoken to Willis since news of his health problems broke in recent years.

Willis retired from acting in 2022 after being diagnosed with aphasia.

His family later announced that his condition progressed to frontotemporal dementia, which can result in communication problems, unusual behavior and emotional problems. according to the National Institute of Aging.

Osment shared his well wishes with Willis at the premiere of “Blink Twice” last month and showed love to his “amazing” family for being “courageous” in giving updates about him.

“And I’m just grateful to have known him and worked with him, because he’s an amazing, larger-than-life person,” Osment told Access Hollywood’s Zuri Hall.