Production Design

Production Design

Ah, Arkansas

Some call it Millsburg, Arkansas, but we call it Benton, Arkansas, because Millsburg is fictional, while Benton is the real Southern city where Billy Bob Thornton filmed Sling Blade.

These days, you can visit Benton and take a Sling Blade tour, although Bill Cox's lawnmower repair shop is no longer there. Guess everyone in Benton has someone mow their lawns for them.

However, you can visit the diner where Vaughan and Karl have a heart-to-heart chat. After your burger, you can cruise on over to the Arkansas Health Center, which served as the filming location for the mental hospital scenes. Still hungry? Visit the "Sling Blade Drive Thru," which opened in January 2015.

All the on-location scenes were edited together by Hughes Winborne, a prolific film editor who would go on to win an Academy Award in 2006 for Crash. Sling Blade was one of Winborne's first projects. More recently, he edited Guardians of the Galaxy. Do you think he can get Billy Bob Thornton into a Marvel movie?