Back when actress Laura Linney starred with Kevin Spacey in The Life of David Gale, a movie about the death penalty that was set in Texas, the country’s No. 1 state for executions, Linney rebuffed questions early on about her own position on the controversial topic. David Gale was really a “murder mystery,” she said then, adding, “It’s not important what I think.” Friday night in Dallas, though, the graceful, New York City-born actress was a little more forthcoming.
Capital punishment “doesn’t sit easy with me from a humanitarian or economic viewpoint. I certainly know it isn’t an easy topic,” Linney (photographed by Jeanne Prejean) said on the “red carpet” at the Hotel Palomar, before accepting the Dallas Star Award at the Dallas International Film Festival. “I’ve never been the victim of serious crime, nor have members of my family been murdered,” she went on. “If I was sitting in a trial, I hope my convictions would stay the same. But I certainly sympathize with the families of the victims, who might feel differently.”
