Dead Man Walking (film) Dead Man Walking (film) Dead Man Walking is a 1995 American crime drama film starring Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn, and co-produced and directed by Tim Robbins, who adapted the screenplay from the non-fiction book of the same name. Sister Helen Prejean (Sarandon) establishes a special relationship with Matthew Poncelet (Penn) – based on real-life murderers Elmo Patrick Sonnier and Robert Lee Willie – a prisoner on death row in Louisiana, acting as his spiritual adviser after carrying on correspondence with him. Matthew Poncelet has been in prison for six years, awaiting his execution after being sentenced to death for
Carrie Prejean Prejean's answer to her final question during the pageant became the subject of controversy. Prejean received nationwide attention over her response to a question about same-sex marriage during the 2009 Miss USA pageant. Prejean was asked by pageant judge Perez Hilton whether she believed every U.S. state should legalize same-sex marriage. She responded: The media attention intensified after Hilton added a video blog post to his website, and made comments there and elsewhere, disparaging Prejean and her answer to the question. Hilton called her a "dumb bitch" and stated: "She gave an awful, awful answer that alienated so many people."