Trivia / Sling Blade

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• Creator's Favorite Episode: Billy Bob Thornton considers this to be the best film he's ever made.
• Directed by Cast Member: The film was directed by Billy Bob Thornton and stars Thornton as Karl Childers.
• Dyeing for Your Art: John Ritter dyed his hair blonde, as Billy Bob Thornton felt that Vaughan was a man who was transferred out of St. Louis for his job and based his hairstyle on what he saw men sporting in GQ.
• Enforced Method Acting: Minor but humorous: Lucas Black didn't know Karl was going to ad-lib a certain line about potted meat, and genuinely laughed as a result; the effect was still good.
• Irony as She Is Cast: Doyle's mediocre band (including Doyle himself) consisted of real-life accomplished and talented musicians.
• Method Acting: Billy Bob Thornton placed crushed glass in his shoes in order to make his walk more awkward and consistent.
• The Other Darrin: Molly Ringwald played the newspaper reporter in the original short film. Sarah Boss replaced her in the movie.
• Production Posse: John Ritter worked with Billy Bob Thornton on Hearts Afire. They'd work together on Bad Santa as well.
• Referenced by...:
  • Experimental Film, Lois compares Lady Midday's weapon in the final film to Billy Bob Thornton's sling blade.
• Self-Adaptation: The film is a remake of Billy Bob Thornton's short film Some Folks Call It a Sling Blade.
• Star-Making Role: Catapulted Billy Bob Thornton to international stardom after years of supporting/bit roles.
• Word of Saint Paul: Robert Duvall reveals on the DVD Commentary that Karl's father is talking to an imaginary dog named Bullet when Karl walks in.
• Write Who You Know: Billy Bob Thornton told The Howard Stern Show that Karl was based on a boy where he grew up, who could not walk or talk very well, so his parents kept him in the shed. The story is that the boy's mother was scared by a snake when she was pregnant, so they felt he was like a child of the devil. They kept him locked up and fed him like a dog. It turned out the boy had polio.
• Written by Cast Member

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