Natalie Canerday makes a supporting character feel like someone with a life to get back to. We rate her unforced acting in Sling Blade, and wish its screenplay made more room for her.
Fi1m perspective
In Sling Blade (1996), Natalie Canerday's Linda Wheatley does not seem to be waiting for her turn to act. Alongside Lucas Black as Frank Wheatley, she gives Billy Bob Thornton's more conspicuous performance some ordinary company, and the film is better for it. Her ease helps us believe that these people have things to do when Karl is not around. We were moved by the life Canerday and Black suggest beyond his concerns, without asking the film to stop and admire them.
One False Move (1992) had already put her in a film with Thornton, as Cheryl Ann, under Carl Franklin's direction. We rate that thriller highly, but Canerday is not the basis of our enthusiasm for it. The breakthrough supporting roles came with Sling Blade and October Sky (1999), where she plays Elsie Hickam, the protagonist's mother. Her Arkansas-accented voice and recurring casting as Southern women, frequently mothers, give the work a recognisable continuity. The quality we value is how readily she fits among other actors.
There are limits to what this sort of acting can repair. The screenplay of Sling Blade gives its supporting characters less attention than they merit, even as their presence makes the drama more involving. John Ritter's Vaughan Cunningham offers warmth without asking for approval, and Canerday's unforced work belongs comfortably alongside it. Thornton gets good work from this company, but does not consistently give them enough space. Linda feels sufficiently complete for us to notice how much more she might have offered with another scene or two.
Later work in Arkansas-set independent films includes Jeff Nichols's debut feature, Shotgun Stories (2007). Canerday's career has remained largely in supporting parts, and our strongest reason to value it is still Linda Wheatley. We would welcome a part that gave her more room without requiring her to become more demonstrative. Start with Sling Blade, with the caveat that we would gladly exchange a little of its lingering for another scene with Linda.
Biography
Natalie Canerday is an American actress. Born in Russellville, Arkansas, she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in theatre from Hendrix College in 1985.
She is known for her roles as Linda Wheatley in Sling Blade (1996) and Elsie Hickam in October Sky (1999). She also appeared as Cheryl Ann in One False Move (1992) and had smaller parts in Biloxi Blues (1988), Walk the Line (2005) and Shotgun Stories (2007). Canerday provided a voice for an episode of the animated series King of the Hill (1997) and appeared in an episode of True Detective (2014).
In 1997 she received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination, shared with the cast of Sling Blade, for outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture. Earlier in her career she worked as a production secretary on the television film The Tuskegee Airmen (1995).
