The Sixth Sense sweeps popular awards

The Sixth Sense sweeps popular awards
ASSOCIATED PRESS

PASADENA (CALIFORNIA) JANUARY 10: The Sixth Sense was named favourite film of 1999, Notting Hill and Runaway Bride star Julia Roberts was named favourite actress, and Random Hearts star Harrison Ford was named favorite actor at the People's Choice Awards.

TV stars Calista Flockhart of Ally McBeal and Drew Carey of The Drew Carey Show, the shows Friends and ER and performers Ricky Martin, Shania Twain and The Backstreet Boys also were honoured at the 26th annual awards on Sunday night.

The ghost story The Sixth Sense won the overall movie and dramatic film categories. Adam Sandler was the favourite comedy star and his movie Big Daddy won the comedy movie category.

Reuters adds: The Sixth Sense, about a little boy ``who sees dead people'', made more than $280 million at the box office.

The film garnered two Golden Globe nominations last month for child actor Haley Joel Osment, nominated as best supporting actor and for writer/director M. Night Shyamalan won a nomination for BestScreenplay.

Yesterday, the film won honours in two categories as both the People's favorite motion picture and favorite dramatic motion picture.

In a press conference following the awards ceremony, Willis told reporters how much he had enjoyed working with Shyamalan whom he called ``brilliant'' and with young Osment. ``He has so much heart, so much talent... It's just astonishing to see that... When I was working with him it was like working with a grown man,'' Willis said, adding that he expected Osment to receive an Oscar nomination for his performance.

The awards were based on a telephone poll of 5,000 Americans conducted by the Gallup organisation. The poll uses a ``strategic sample'' and is intended to reflect the views of 200 million Americans.