Some people make huge shifts in their careers, which we will see with Elizabeth Banks as she took the job to direct Cocaine Bear. The gory R-rated horror comedy has a wild story from the true story that inspired it to how it got the actor-turned-director to helm the film. In a Variety cover story, it is revealed you can thank filmmaking duo Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, known for The Lego Movie, The Afterparty, and more.
Screenwriter Jimmy Warden was inspired by a true story from the ’80s when a drug trafficker, Andrew Thornton II, died in a parachute accident when on a drug run. While he was found in Knoxville, Tennessee, a bear in Georgia was found dead. It turns out the 175-pound black bear consumed 70 pounds of the nose candy. So, a story was drafted about the bear surviving only to go on a bloody rampage.
Lord and Miller got the script and took it to Universal. Since they have a first-look deal, the studio was interested due to its wild and original premise. When Elizabeth Banks got a hold of the script of Cocaine Bear from her agent, it “flashed before my eyes” as she read it. Due to her past work with the duo on The Lego Movie, and her love for brutal horror, she was already sold, but it came down to the story that brought her onboard. The filmmaker felt sorry for the animal and wanted this to be its “revenge story.”
“I really felt like this is so f—ed up that this bear got dragged into this drug run gone bad and ends up dead. I felt like this movie could be that bear’s revenge story.”
When it came to direct Cocaine Bear, Elizabeth Banks did gruesome research
When you take on a gory, silly horror film, you may find yourself doing some grisly research. Elizabeth Banks signed on to direct Cocaine Bear, but her methods were something to not “recommend” for anyone as she looked at real images online of bear attacks. The pictures were “f—ing gnarly as s—.” It did help due to her love for the brutal, which was due to watching Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead. She said that it was “the fun part of the ride.”
Although she feels the risk of the film could be a “career-ender,” the studio has confidence in its success. Following films like M3GAN, Universal (and the rest of the industry) has found great success with horror in a time that has seen lower attendance at theaters. More than ever, you need something to motivate people to get their butts in seats, and wild premises of dancing, killer dolls to Airbnb stays going wrong will lead people to leave their homes to see a wild horror movie on the big screen.
Elizabeth Banks has previously helmed the successful Pitch Perfect 2 and the flop Charlie’s Angels, leading her to this moment of Cocaine Bear. The film is close as it releases on February 24. The film will star Ray Liotta, Keri Russell, Alden Ehrenreich, Margo Martindale, Kristopher Hivju, O’Shea Jackson Jr., and Jesse Tyler Ferguson.