Sling Blade
| Sling Blade | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Billy Bob Thornton |
| Produced by |
Larry Meistrich David L. Bushell Brandon Rosser |
| Screenplay by | Billy Bob Thornton |
| Based on |
Some Folks Call It a Sling Blade by Billy Bob Thornton |
| Starring |
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| Music by | Daniel Lanois |
| Cinematography | Barry Markowitz |
| Edited by | Hughes Winborne |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by | Miramax Films |
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Release date
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Running time
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135 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $1 million |
| Box office | $24.4 million |
Sling Blade is a 1996 American drama film set in rural Arkansas, written and directed by Billy Bob Thornton, who also stars in the lead role. It tells the story of a man named Karl Childers who has a developmental disability and is released from a psychiatric hospital, where he has lived since killing his mother and her lover when he was 12 years old, and the friendship he develops with a young boy and his mother. In addition to Thornton, it stars Dwight Yoakam, J. T. Walsh, John Ritter, Lucas Black, Natalie Canerday, James Hampton, and Robert Duvall.
The movie was adapted by Thornton from his short film and previous screenplay, Some Folks Call It a Sling Blade. Sling Blade proved to be a sleeper hit, launching Thornton into stardom. It won the Academy Award for Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay, and Thornton was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role. The music for the soundtrack was provided by French Canadian artist/producer Daniel Lanois.
Karl Childers (Billy Bob Thornton) is an intellectually disabled Arkansas man who has been in the custody of the state mental hospital since the age of 12 for having killed his mother and her lover. Although thoroughly institutionalized, Karl is deemed fit to be released into the outside world. Prior to his release, he is interviewed by a local college newspaper reporter, to whom he recounts committing the murders with a Kaiser blade, saying, "Some folks call it a sling blade. I call it a kaiser blade." Karl says he thought the man was raping his mother. When he discovered that his mother was a willing participant in the affair, he killed her also.
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Wikipedia