Dead Man Walking
Dead Man Walking is a 1995 film based on the book of the same name, that tells the true story of Sister Helen Prejean (played by Susan Sarandon), a nun and anti-death penalty advocate, who established a special relationship with Matthew Poncelet, a prisoner on Death Row (played by Sean Penn).
The movie also stars Robert Prosky, Raymond J. Barry and R. Lee Ermey. The movie was directed by Tim Robbins, who adapted the story from Sister Prejean's autobiographical account of the incident. Susan Sarandon won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role, and the film was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Sean Penn), Best Director and Best Music, Song (for Bruce Springsteen for "Dead Man Walking").
The film takes many liberties with the story as presented in Prejean's book, for instance consolidating two different people Prejean counseled on Death Row, as well as their crimes and their victims' families — and lesser details taken away to shorten the film.
In 2002, Tim Robbins wrote the stage version of "Dead Man Walking". Instead of having it produced professionally, in 2004 he offered the play to schools and colleges throughout the United States, particularly Jesuit schools, in a three-year project designed to foster discourse around the death penalty. That project, the Dead Man Walking School Theatre Project, is managed by the Death Penalty Discourse Center, where Sister Prejean now bases her work.
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