Editing Sling Blade (section)

==Production==
Thornton conceived the character of Karl while working on the film ''[[The Man Who Broke 1,000 Chains]]''. He developed the idea into a monologue, which became a one-man show to fund the film.<ref name="washpost">{{cite news |date=March 23, 1996 | first=Rita | last=Kempley |title=Who Is That Guy? |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/review97/fbillythornton.htm |newspaper=[[Washington Post]] }}</ref><ref name="Collins">{{cite web |date=29 March 1997 |first=Scott | last=Collins |title=Call It Father of 'Sling Blade': Video Rides Oscar's Coattails |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-03-29-ca-43107-story.html |website=Los Angeles Times }}</ref> He expanded the monologue into a short film, ''Some Folks Call it a Sling Blade'', directed by George Hickenlooper and starring Thornton, Molly Ringwald, and J. T. Walsh.

The film was made with a production budget of $1 million financed by [[TSG Pictures|The Shooting Gallery]], and was sold to Miramax for $10 million, which at the time was a record price for an independent film.<ref name="NYT-Pristin">{{cite web |date=27 June 2001 |last=Pristin |first=Terry |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/27/nyregion/film-dreams-appear-to-fade-in-red-ink-for-manhattan-company.html |website=[[The New York Times]] |title= Film Dreams Appear to Fade in Red Ink for Manhattan Company |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150527175034/https://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/27/nyregion/film-dreams-appear-to-fade-in-red-ink-for-manhattan-company.html |archive-date=2015-05-27  |url-status=live |url-access=registration }}</ref>