Dead Man Walking (film)

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Dead Man Walking - the film
Dead Man Walking DVD cover
Directed by	Tim Robbins
Produced by	Jon Kilik Tim Robbins Rudd Simmons
Written by	Helen Prejean (book Dead Man Walking as Sister Helen Prejean C.S.J.) Tim Robbins
Starring	Susan Sarandon Sean Penn Robert Prosky Lois Smith
Distributed by	Gramercy Pictures U.S.
Release date(s)	December 29, 1995 U.S. release
Running time	122 min.
Language	English
IMDb profile

This article is about the film. For the Snoop Dogg album, see Dead Man Walkin'.

Dead Man Walking is a 1995 film based on the book of the same name, which tells the story of Sister Helen Prejean (played by Susan Sarandon), who establishes a special relationship with Matthew Poncelet, a prisoner on death row (played by Sean Penn).

1 Cast and awards
2 Adaptation
3 Other versions
4 External links

[edit] Cast and awards

Susan Sarandon won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role. Sean Penn was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role, Tim Robbins for Best Director and its main track, "Dead Man Walking" by Bruce Springsteen for Best Music, Song.

The movie also stars Robert Prosky, Raymond J. Barry and R. Lee Ermey. Robbins adapted the story himself from Sister Prejean's autobiographical account.

[edit] Adaptation

The film takes many liberties with the story that is presented in Prejean's book. For example, it consolidates two different people who Prejean counseled on Death Row into one character, as well as merging their crimes and their victims' families into one event and one family. Lesser details were also removed to shorten the length of the film.

In reality, Elmo Patrick Sonnier (Poncelet in the adaptation), was executed in the electric chair. Director Tim Robbins opted to use lethal injection in the adaptation because he felt that an electrocution would be too difficult to enact. Louisiana does use lethal injection now, however their lethal injection is administered manually – not by a machine as depicted in the film.