By Thomas Chau in New York City

At 15 years of age, Haley Joel Osment has more than just acting on the mind: “I got my license permit early this summer and when I turn 16 years old next April, hopefully I’ll get my license,” he says at a press day in New York City. As for the kind of car Haley hopes to drive to high school, he admits, “Every kid my age would want a Porsche or something but that’s not exactly realistic.”

As Haley goes on to name some of his favorite music bands, including R.E.M., Coldplay, and Radiohead, it’s clear that this child actor is maintaining some sort of humility in his life. Haley started out at an early age, starring in TV roles as a young child in “The Jeff Foxworthy Show” and a show that I have to admit was one of my favorites in junior high, “Thunder Alley.” He went on to do his first major film with Tom Hanks in “Forrest Gump” but really took audiences by surprise in M. Night Shyamalan’s “The Sixth Sense,” to which he earned an Academy Award-nomination. His next major projects included “Pay it Forward” with Kevin Spacey and Helen Hunt, and the mega-production “A.I.” by Steven Spielberg.

Haley stars in “Secondhand Lions” this Friday. He plays a 14-year-old boy named Walter who is left by his mother (Kyra Sedgwick) on the farm of two uncles, Hub (Robert Duvall) and Garth (Michael Caine). Walter barely knows his uncles and initially, his uncles seem to not care about his stay. But over the course of the summer, Walter develops an earnest respect for his uncles, as he slowly learns what it takes to become a man.

Haley graces his presence at a press day for the movie in New York City and below is what he had to tell us about the film, working with Robert Duvall and Michael Caine, and the maturity of both himself and his roles.

Compared to all of the other films you’ve done, was this one more inspiring?

Haley: It was very different. Every film should be different, the experience as well as the characters you’re playing. Shooting in Texas with Tim [McCanlies], we just had a comfortable environment on the set where you really knew everybody really well. Having Michael and Robert there, of course, changed things too. Learning different things from them than you would from other actors. So yeah, it was a great experience.

You shot this film down in Texas with two of the most amazing actors. Did you hang out with them on set?

Much like Hub and Garth, they would sit in the directors’ chairs and tell stories all the time when we had a camera break. I would always try to be near that and hear what they had to say because they have some incredible stories. I don’t think a lot of people know that Michael fought in the Korean War. That was something really similar to his character with his war experience and battles, and Michael had gone through that. It was a personal experience that related to his character and also very interesting to hear about.

In the film, Hub (Robert Duvall) says that “Just because something isn’t true, there’s no reason to not believe in it.” Do you agree with this ideology?

Oh yeah. Believing in things is more important than factuality. If you doubted everything, or looked at everything simply for the facts, you wouldn’t have any passion about living. It’s all about your ideals and what you think is important. It’s not always about what the facts are.

You have some scenes with a real lion. How much time did you get to spend with it?

It was around the set really frequently but the producers weren’t too excited about me jumping into the cage with it as much as I wanted to. I figured I was the one of the least afraid of that thing on the set, but still they were kind of worried.

But were you afraid at the beginning?

No. The way it acted – you just sort of forgot that it was a dangerous animal, I guess. (Laughs) It just acted like a kitten.

You’re great with drawing emotions of the audience. In other words, you can make people cry. What is the secret behind pulling that off and being believable?

The job of the actor is that if you want to take people to the emotional levels that your character is in the film, you have to make sure you connect with them and make sure they sympathize with you. They want good things to happen to you as the film goes on. Whatever experience brings the character to that emotional level, I think the audience should be with them there, thus going through the same experience.

Can you do a role that you can’t connect to?

You have to be able to connect at some point. Some characters will be more difficult to relate to than others because of emotional stress or challenges that the characters go through. Like for instance, with “A.I.,” that’s a character that’s hard to find any kind of experience you can relate to. It’s all through imagination. Even if you can’t find any personal experience, you have to imagine it at least. If you’re not sympathetic as a character, it won’t be believable.

You’ve managed to stay really grounded at a really young age. You don’t read about the problems that other child actors tend to have. How do you do that?

It’s all about having a good family base. In this business, that’s really important to have. It helps you concentrate more on the acting and not get carried away with all the outlying factors. They’re always going to be there, for any actor. It’s just whether you choose to pay attention to them or not.

When you were younger, we knew what we would be seeing on screen, but as you get older, and your voice changes and you become more of a man, it’s harder for us to know. Is age becoming a factor with some of the roles you’re looking into now?

Age is definitely a factor because at this age, you’re very age specific. As a younger kid, you can play a wider variety of ages. As a younger kid you can play a wider variety of ages I guess, because the voice hasn’t changed and there’s a physicality that progresses as you get older. Now you can’t play a 17-year-old when you’re a 15-year-old, whereas when you’re ten you can play 8 or even 12. The good part is that, especially with this movie, the changes that I am going through are within the context of the film. So people pretty much know where I am, age-wise, at this point, and that was one of the great things about this film. It demonstrates that that’s the direction I’m going in.

"Secondhand Lions" opens in theaters everywhere September 19th.