Haley Joel Osment stars in 'Red' in Philadelphia

HALEY JOEL Osment doesn't get the "I see dead people" line thrown at him as much as you'd think. Other actors who've played iconic roles - in Osment's case the ghost-glimpsing Cole Sear of "The Sixth Sense" - are forced to suffer through the indignity. Though he's going to an Eagles game soon, so all bets are off there.

But Osment's lucky because the face moviegoers remember has been largely veiled postpuberty. He doesn't look like a boy anymore; he looks like the 23-year-old he is, and he's now taking on young-man roles. Through Nov. 13, you can catch him here in the Tony Award-winning play "Red" as Ken, the assistant to abstract expressionist Mark Rothko as he paints a series of murals for Manhattan's swank Four Seasons restaurant in 1958-59.

Osment jumped at the chance to be in "Red," even if that meant leaving his home in New York. "It's great to do the biggest Broadway marquee show, but that's not always going to come your way, and it's not going to be the best role that's out there," Osment said. He last appeared on Broadway two years ago in David Mamet's "American Buffalo" with John Leguizamo and Cedric the Entertainer.

Osment continued, "Some of the actors that I respect most often end up on that big stage, but I see them finding their way there through following the good performances and following the right people that can't always be found on Broadway."

It was the character of Ken - "someone who is really finding their place in the world, finding out about the creative process and the type of artist they want to be" - that drew him back to Philadelphia, where the 1999 hit "Sixth Sense" was filmed.

In "Red," Osment works with Stephen Rowe as Rothko. Rowe was understudy for role originator Alfred Molina. "Steven took a really smart strategy in not letting the choices they made on that production determine the choices they made on this play," Osment said. "He's been able to do that pretty remarkably. We're building these characters from what we found in the text and not trying to replicate something that was on done on Broadway."

Osment does not want to restrict himself to theater. His next project is a movie, "Wake the Dead," that starts shooting in December in Boston. It's an update of the Frankenstein story, and Osment will play one of two medical students looking to bring the dead back to life.

Osment still remembers our city, which created a vivid backdrop for the role that made him famous and landed him an Oscar nomination. When he learned that "Sixth Sense" shooting locations are on the Philadelphia Movie Sites Tour, Osment lit up.

"Oh, really?" he said, laughing. "I should take that."