<Tr> <Th> Budget </Th> <Td> $1 million </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Box office </Th> <Td> $24.4 million </Td> </Tr> <P> 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 . </P> <P> The film was adapted by Thornton from his previous screenplay for the short film Some Folks Call It a Sling Blade, directed by George Hickenlooper . 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 . </P>

Who played the main character in sling blade