More of this Feature ADDITIONAL PREMIERE COVERAGE: • Kevin Spacey ('David Gale') • Laura Linney ('Constance') • Gabriel Mann ('Zack') • Matt Craven ('Dusty') • Melissa McCarthy ['Nico/Goth Girl'] • Producer Nicolas Cage • "The Life of David Gale" Premiere Video - Interviews with the Cast MORE INFORMATION ON "The Life of David Gale": • "The Life of David Gale" Photo Gallery • "The Life of David Gale" News, Trailer, and Websites • Gabriel Mann Interview, Photos and Movies • Kate Winslet Movie News and Websites

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CHARLES RANDOLPH (Screenwriter)

How do you describe “The Life of David Gale?”
It's a thriller and a drama at the same time. It's a really difficult mix to pull off. I think we've done a good job. I think Alan [Parker's] done a great job with that. It's about finding interesting thriller beats - thriller moments - with surprises, and still having something to say at the same time.

It's about a man who finds himself on death row. You follow his life and you understand more about how he got there. It's told in flashbacks. It's fun - it's got fun stuff.

How does it feel to have Alan Parker direct your first screenplay?
Life could be worse! (laughing) With Kevin Spacey, Kate Winslet and Laura Linney…

How long did it take before this film got off the ground?
This script sat around for four years. Every studio in town read it. Every studio in town offered me work based on it. But nobody wanted to make it. The meetings always started the same, “Loved the script. No one will ever put this up on the screen.” Then Alan Parker stepped up and got it made. Alan has so much courage.

You were a philosophy professor and then you decided to write a screenplay. How did that work?
I was here doing some lectures for the Writers Guild and I was having some discussions after the lectures with various writers. And so I wrote the screenplay because I understood the process. I finished it, sent it off to CAA, and they liked it.

And originally it went to Nicolas Cage? Was he interested in it?
Yes, exactly. He's a producer on the film. He and Alan had a few discussions of what they wanted to do with the film.

How do Texans feel about this film?
I would hope well. I own property in Texas and I spend a lot of time in Texas. My parents are from Texas. If anything, I've tried to show, with the film, the perspective of people who don't live in Texas and how they're sometimes contemptuous of Texas in a way they shouldn't be. That's what I hoped to achieve. But I hope Texas likes it.

And your next project?
“The Interpreter.” It's set in the United Nations and it's for Universal as well. It's a thriller set in the United Nations.