Playing a disabled or mentally ill character seems like it would be one of the most demanding roles for an actor to portray. It’s probably just as tough for an actress, although few films seem to be centered around handicapped women. It also seems to be something of an initiation rite – although it’s not universal , a large number of the finest actors, particularly in more recent years, have distinguished themselves by portraying characters that are either on the lower end of the intelligence scale, or suffering from a psychiatric disorder that makes coping with the surrounding world into a daily ordeal. In the final few moments of Billy Bob Thornton’s breakthrough performance as both an actor and a director in Sling Blade (1996), a fellow inmate in the mental institution he’s returned to asks him, “What it was like out there, in the world?” Thornton’s character Karl responds with the memorably simple pronouncement, “It was too big.”

The Film: Sling Blade

The Song: “The Maker”

The Artist: Daniel Lanois

Although the immense praise Billy Bob Thornton received for his performance as Karl Childers was well-deserved, it’s actually hard to pin down what handicap or illness Karl suffers from. When he is interviewed by a student reporter at the beginning of the film, the elaborate preparations and preconditions suggest that he suffers from autism and won’t react well to a deviation from routine. His tendency to rub his hands together suggests stereotypy, another common autistic trait. And Karl’s savant-like talent for fixing small engines coupled with his rudimentary social skills add even further to this impression.

However, Karl complacent acceptance of his imminent departure from the mental institution and his ability to adapt to new situations seem to refute this. Furthermore, the instantaneous empathy that Karl begins to show for his newfound friend Frank Wheatley is very uncharacteristic of autistics. Karl’s grasp of the implications of Doyle’s return to the household suggest that he can conceptualize complicated situations, and although Karl’s solution to the problem is very straightforward and simple, it’s a course of action that he contemplates thoroughly before following it through. In both writing and portraying Karl, Billy Bob Thornton managed to create a character that either suffers from a very unique disability or illness, or otherwise suffers from no disability at all other than a need to process information very slowly and a certain lack of initiative. (more…)