The untold truth of M. Night Shyamalan

When The Sixth Sense arrived in 1999, most critics agreed that we were witnessing the arrival of a major new talent in Indian-American writer-director M. Night Shyamalan. The movie offered a master class in mood, atmosphere and nerve-jangling tension, brought to life by superb performances from Bruce Willis, Toni Collette, and 11-year-old Haley Joel Osment as a troubled young boy who added a chillingly simple new phrase to the pop culture lexicon: "I see dead people." The film was nominated for six Oscars, including Best Picture, and Shyamalan was heralded by many as the second coming of Alfred Hitchcock.

After that auspicious start, the filmmaker known affectionately to his friends and peers as "Night" has carved out an infamously hit-or-miss career. Less than a decade after The Sixth Sense ruled the box office, he hit the kind of rough patch that sinks most filmmakers permanently. But Night has since made a remarkable recovery, with 2016's The Visit and 2017's Split garnering widespread acclaim and reinvigorating his career. As we anxiously await Glass, the sequel to Split, let's take a look at some lesser-known facts about a man who's more than just the sum of his his twist endings — the sometimes frustrating, sometimes masterful, always interesting M. Night Shyamalan.