Actor lends voice to 'Cold Mountain' role
By Stephanie Snipes
CNN
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Lucas Black plays a Confederate soldier and friend to Inman, played by Jude Law, in "Cold Mountain."
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(CNN) -- Lucas Black may not be someone moviegoers remember at first glance, but his distinctive Southern accent is bound to ring a bell.
The self-proclaimed "country boy" has worked alongside some of Hollywood's biggest stars in many recent films set in the South.
At 13, Black impressed audiences with his breakthrough role in "Sling Blade" opposite Billy Bob Thornton. Now 21, Black plays Oakley in the Golden Globe-nominated film "Cold Mountain."
"Cold Mountain" centers on Inman (Jude Law) and Ada (Nicole Kidman), two admirers pulled apart by the Civil War. Black plays a friend of Inman's sent into battle with the rest of the local townsmen. Although the character isn't long lived, he serves an important role as catalyst to Inman's long and treacherous journey home.
Black, whose credits also include "All the Pretty Horses" and "Crazy in Alabama," sat down with CNN to discuss the new Anthony Minghella film.
CNN: Tell us about your character.
BLACK: The character Oakley comes from the same town as Jude Law's character, Cold Mountain. He kind of looks up to Jude Law. And later on he gets drafted to the war, and he ends up getting killed. He says some things when he's dying that reminds [Inman] of his home and that he should be back home.
CNN: What was filming like?
BLACK: It was pretty rough, pretty rough conditions. I had to be in full body, well half-body makeup, for about four weeks. It was dirt, blood and charcoal. And then the heat in Romania, where we shot ... it was 95 degrees. And we had ... thunderstorms almost every day in the evening, so it was pretty muddy.
CNN: How about filming the battle scenes?
BLACK: Anthony [Minghella] wanted it to be as real as possible. In the Civil War when the Union troops got shot, they couldn't fall down cause there were so many. So he told the extras that he wanted it like that. He told the ones that were supposed to be dead just to be limp, and if they could fall down to fall down. It was pretty rough.
CNN: Did you enjoy working with director Anthony Minghella?
BLACK: It was amazing to me. I was really in awe ... especially when I saw the picture. ... You could really tell ... he had that vision in his mind and what he [did] to get it there is pretty amazing.
CNN: You had a lot of scenes with Jude Law. What was it like to work with him?
BLACK: I learned a lot from him. That was the first big picture I've ever worked on and just watching him and how he handled every situation. He worked out and lifted weights every day and just still went to work and did those battle scenes 12, 14 hours a day in the heat. He never missed a beat.
CNN: Do you enjoy working on period pieces?
BLACK: It's a learning experience. You always learn new things. Of course I knew about the Civil War growing up in the South -- I learned about it in school -- but when you do a period piece, you always learn something more from all the historians. They told us about how they handled some of the weapons, and the armory ... and how they took pride in their suits and things.
CNN: How do you go about picking your roles?
BLACK: My Southern accent kind of narrows it down to certain roles that I can play. To be honest with you, I don't really know how it's happened. It's just kind of fell into place. I've just been fortunate.
CNN: Are you willing to give up your Southern accent?
BLACK: Yeah, my manager and I have been talking about it. In the future to play bigger roles and lead roles, I'll probably have to do a different accent than a Southern accent of course, and so that's in progress.
CNN: Do you have any dream roles?
BLACK: Well, I'd really like to be in a good western movie. You know, I did "All the Pretty Horses," and I really liked it. I don't mind riding horses ... and a football movie. I have a football movie coming up the end of January. Ron Howard is producing it, and Peter Berg is directing. Billy Bob Thornton is going to play the coach.
