Elmo Patrick Sonnier illness, at Louisiana State Prison . He is buried in the prison cemetery. Sister Helen Prejean published a book, "Dead Man Walking" (1993), about her relationship with Elmo Sonnier and Robert Lee Willie, another inmate on Death Row whom she counseled. The book was adapted as a 1995 film of the same name directed by Tim Robbins and starring Susan Sarandon as Sister Prejean and Sean Penn as Matthew Poncelett, an amalgam of Sonnier and Willie. Her book was also adapted as an opera of the same name, first produced in 2000 by the San Francisco Opera. Elmo Patrick Sonnier
Safe Passage (film) Safe Passage (film) Safe Passage is a 1994 American drama film starring Susan Sarandon, and featuring Nick Stahl, Sam Shepard, Sean Astin and Jason London. Directed by Robert Allan Ackerman from a screenplay by Deena Goldstone, it is based on the novel "Safe Passage" by Ellyn Bache. Maggie Singer (Susan Sarandon) is an obsessive, superstitious and moderately psychic woman who has premonitions in her dreams. The mother of seven children, only one of which still lives at home, she is getting divorced from her husband, and plans to move into the city and take a job as a civil servant.