* BreakthroughHit: For Creator/MNightShyamalan.
* ContractualObligationProject: This was the second of three movies that Creator/BruceWillis owed Creator/{{Disney}}, being followed by ''Film/TheKid2000'', after he caused another production, ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadway_Brawler Broadway Brawler]]'', to be shut down, due to him firing the director. He was paid ten million dollars, half of his usual salary at the time ... and all this after the studio had had him do ''Film/Armageddon1998'' for just three million, making up the money spent on ''Broadway'' before it was terminated.
* CreatorChosenCasting: Creator/MNightShyamalan wrote the role of Malcolm Crowe with Creator/BruceWillis in mind.
* DawsonCasting: Although Cole is supposed to be nine years old, Creator/HaleyJoelOsment was eleven. Much more jarring in the case of Donnie Wahlberg whose character should have been ''nineteen'' at the beginning of the movie. And Wahlberg was twenty-nine. ''It shows.''
* DuelingWorks: In contest with ''Film/StirOfEchoes''.
* DyeingForYourArt: Creator/DonnieWahlberg lost forty-three pounds for the role of Vincent Grey.
* FakeAmerican: Australian Creator/ToniCollette as Lynn, and British Creator/OliviaWilliams as Anna.
* MidDevelopmentGenreShift: In the very first draft of the script, it was more of serial killer investigation thriller in a vein of ''Film/SilenceOfTheLambs'', and Malcolm was a crime photographer instead of therapist while Cole was his son who can see dead people. After ten rewrites, it became the script of the movie we know today.
* OrphanedReference: When Malcolm realizes he's a ghost, there is an echo of the boy saying "I see people". The line "I see people" was not used in the final cut (he only says "I see dead people").
* PlayingAgainstType:
** Creator/BruceWillis, notably.
** Creator/DonnieWahlberg, then still primarily known for being in Music/NewKidsOnTheBlock, appears in the opening scene as Malcolm's unstable patient.
* StarMakingRole: For Creator/HaleyJoelOsment.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
** Creator/ClaireForlani and Creator/MarisaTomei declined the role of Anna Crowe.
** According to Creator/MichaelCera, this was the first film that he ever auditioned for. He read for the part of Cole, and the scene he did was the Magic Trick scene, but he later admitted that he did it too cheerfully; he had not read the entire script, so he didn't know that Cole was supposed to be an introverted and quiet boy.
** French actress Beatrice Dalle (who's known for her appearance in ''Film/BettyBlue'' and ''Film/Inside2007'') was planned to audition for Anna Crowe, but her possession of cocaine during the filming of Abel Ferrara's ''The Blackout'' in Miami has garnered [[RoleEndingMisdemeanor her some legal trouble and denied a work permit in the US]]. This also explains why she doesn't get cast in American movies, despite being a well-known actress in her home country.
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