Actor Haley Joel Osment honored with award at SLO Film Festival
As the rain fell outside the Masonic Lodge, fans drew into the building Saturday evening to see actor Haley Joel Osment honored with the Spotlight Presentation: Craft in Focus Award from the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival.
Best known for his roles as a child actor “The Sixth Sense” and in “Forrest Gump,” Osment’s career has spanned 34 years in film, television and theater. He began his career at the age of 4.
Osment has also appeared in other recent films including “Happy Gilmore 2” and “Blink Twice.” Some of his roles in television include “The Boys,” “Poker Face” and “Goliath,” among others.
The Academy Award-nominated actor spoke at the festival’s new spotlight presentations that walk through artists’ past and current work, reflecting on their journey through filmmaking, according to the SLO Film Festival website.
Osment’s latest film, “How to Date Again,” premiered at the Palm Theater on Saturday night. The movie follows a fresh couple who take a road trip along the California coast, with scenes played by Osment as a “creepy night manager” at the Madonna Inn.
The 32nd annual SLO Film Festival runs through April 28, and some of the winning documentary short films shown at the six-day event will be eligible to enter for Oscar consideration, according to the festival’s program guide.
Early career acting for Joel Osment
The conversation at the Masonic Lodge with Osment was moderated by journalist Drew Taylor for The Wrap. The two spoke about Osment’s early career and what acting was like as a child.
“One of the things that’s so interesting about starting working at that age, and working as a kid, is that your imagination and your relationship with the real world is developing along with being in these imaginary environments,” Osment said. “It can be really magical.”
Osment’s first acting gig was in “Forrest Gump” at 4 years old, where he said he learned how to tie his shoes for the first time on set.
The actor’s big break came with “The Sixth Sense,” a film starring Osment and Bruce Willis about a child psychologist who treats a boy with an unsettling secret. He also starred in Steven Spielberg’s “A.I. Artificial Intelligence” about an advanced robotic boy hoping to become real one day.
“That was a whole different ball game, and still a time when we had to go to a newsstand and get the newspapers to see what the box office returns were and being very pleasantly surprised,” Osment said.
Working as a child actor to present day
Osment said he spent some time as an adult in New York going to drama school at NYU and working in theater production.
“As an artist and a person, it was some of the best years of my life being in New York,” he said.
In recent years the actor has been in films like “Blink Twice” and “Happy Gilmore 2,” but Osment has also had experience in animation and voice acting roles with shows like “Family Guy” and “American Dad.”
For his new movie, “How to Date Again,” Osment said he got to wear the Madonna Inn uniform and even bought eyeglasses downtown for the character before they started shooting part of the film at the iconic SLO location.
“This is not a job I would do if I wasn’t enjoying it, and that’s what really has kept me going through everything,” Osment said.
The SLO Film Fest will continue through next Tuesday, introducing another Spotlight Presentation: Craft in Focus Award to Emmy Award-winning “Severance” actress Britt Lower at the Masonic Lodge on Sunday.
