Dead Man Walking - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[carla]

In reality, Elmo Patrick Sonnier and Robert Lee Willie, both inmates on whom Sean Penn's character Matthew Poncelet is based on, were executed by the electric chair in Louisiana in 1984; by 1993, Louisiana switched that penalty to lethal injection as the most humane way to execute. Both Tim Robbins and Helen Prejean opted to use lethal injection in the film instead of the electric chair because, according to Prejean's interview, "We don't want to give people the moral (of the most humane death) out whereby people could say 'Oh well, we used to do electrocution but that's too barbaric so now we are humane and inject them'."

[ivan]

The scene where Sister Helen was pulled over is based on an incident that happened to Helen Prejean during filming. She thought it was so funny that she asked to have it put into the film.

[chad]

First theatrical movie of Peter Sarsgaard (Walter Delacroix).

[jessica]

Scott Wilson (Chaplain Farley) has appeared in two other true crime inspired movies with scenes of capital punishment: In Cold Blood (1967) and Monster (2003). And he has appeared not only in "Dead Man Walking", but also in The Walking Dead (2010).