Southern Accents

One of my favorite movies is Sling Blade. I've always gotten a kick out of the thick Alabama accent of Lucas Black, who was the young boy in the film; it's so rare to see a genuine Southern accent in a Hollywood movie. I just saw an article in my local newspaper about the woman who played the mother in Sling Blade -- Natalie Canerday, an Arkansas native who has had supporting roles in a number of pictures, and who has a fairly strong accent herself. Here is a video where you can see both actors on the screen at about 30 seconds:



The reason I bring this up is because the article had a funny quote from Billy Bob Thornton, who was also struck by Lucas Black's accent:

The only person to have ever been insufficiently impressed with the degree of difficulty in Canderday's execution of the Southern accent was Thornton. Canerday recalls him introducing her to Lucas Black, the young actor who would play her son in Sling Blade. "He said, 'I want you to hear this kid,'" Canerday says. "'He's from Speake, Alabama, and oh my God, he makes you sound like you're from the f******* Bronx.'"

Indeed.

UPDATE: A much longer and better clip for hearing both actors' accents (check out 7:40 and onwards) is here: