Spoken like any self-conscious teenager—but on the job, Osment, who starred in Steven Spielberg's A.I. in 2001, is wise beyond his years. "He's so bright and insightful," says Tim McCanlies, who directed Osment's coming-of-age turn as an adolescent sent to live with his crotchety great-uncles (Michael Caine and Robert Duvall) in the new family film Secondhand Lions. "You start talking to him as one of your peers, and then suddenly you realize, 'My God, he doesn't have his driver's license yet! He's going to be like Jodie Foster. He'll probably go to Yale or Harvard.' "
For now, the 10th grader is busy getting in shape for cross-country track ("I've been running between five and eight miles a day. In the beginning you just die"), playing guitar and doing chores at home in L.A. with parents Eugene, 44, an actor, Theresa, 43, a schoolteacher, and sister Emily, 11, a budding actress (Spy Kids 3D). But sometimes, Osment admits, his worlds do collide. Instead of writing a report for school on the military, Osment and a friend shot a video of playing war in the park. "We're always trying to cram as much film as we can into school," he says. "It's good practice."
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
