Among Hollywood’s many seasonal traditions, few are as distinctively personal as M. Night Shyamalan’s annual Philadelphia charity celebration: Shyamaween. It is part costume party, part fundraising event — and part insider’s gathering for actors who have worked with the director.
One year, Bruce Willis delivered a moment that instantly became Shyamaween lore.
A costume party with purpose
Shyamaween isn’t just a clever portmanteau. It raises funds for Shyamalan’s charitable foundation, which supports anti-poverty initiatives. Cast members past and present frequently attend — and they are encouraged to commit to the theme.
Shyamalan’s collaborative history with Willis dates back to The Sixth Sense (1999) and Unbreakable (2000), and continued through Glass (2019). Members of the Glass ensemble were there the night Willis unveiled what would become one of the most widely shared celebrity Halloween looks of the season.
The Grady twins — with beards
Willis and his longtime assistant, Stephen J. Eads, arrived dressed as the Grady twins from Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. They matched from neck to shoe:
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pale blue dresses with polka dots
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lace collars and bows
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bobbed wigs with floral clips
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knee-length socks and Mary Jane shoes
The beards stayed. That detail made the ensemble not only a Kubrick reference but also a sight gag — precise enough to be recognizable, playful enough to go viral.
Samuel L. Jackson captured the moment and posted it online, cementing it as one of the night’s defining images. Shyamalan himself leaned into the Kubrick motif — arriving as Alex DeLarge from A Clockwork Orange.
A tradition of going all-in
Willis has a long record of approaching Halloween with good humor. But this specific appearance stands out because it blended reverence for film history with the camaraderie of the Glass company.
His wife, Emma Heming Willis, summed up the moment online afterwards: yes, it was a costume — but more importantly, it was a friendship flex.
At Shyamaween, where the intersection of Hollywood and charity is the point, that combination — shared cinema language plus shared effort — is exactly what the night is designed to celebrate.