It’s pretty clear what Cocaine Bear is about. But who’s in it? Who’s behind it? And why did this story(which is actually true) need to be re-told? Beyond the bonkers premise, here’s everything you need to know about Cocaine Bear.
Cocaine Bear was first announced in 2019, with the trade describing it as “a unique bear-driven horror comedy — with heart”. That’s quite the summary. Since then, we’ve been expectantly waiting to see the story of “Pablo Escobar” play out on the big screen. Now, we know exactly when that big high bear will start snorting and rip apart its poor victims. Universal released the first poster for the project in November 2022, one that pictured a black-and-white image of a very coked-up bear looking ready to seriously mess some people up. The poster’s tagline reads “get in line,” and it was accompanied by a release date. Get ready to witness the chaos and absurdity of a drug-addled man-eater in the upcoming film “Cocaine Bear,” premiering in theaters on February 24, 2023.
Cocaine Bear cast and some insights
The plot of Cocaine Bear promises to be absolutely wild. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Cocaine Bear will mix horror and comedy together, creating a movie that’ll deliver both cackles and carnage. One of the biggest selling points of the movie is that it is actually based on a very true incident. According to Rolling Stone, in real life, a man named Andrew C. Thornton decided to use his background as a paratrooper, cop, and lawyer — along with his own plane — to smuggle cocaine from Colombia into the U.S. During one time, when the coke carrying plane was doing its regular round. Actual bricks of cocaine had to be dumped into the deep forest.
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That’s when a hapless bear discovered the nose candy and decided to consume around $15 million worth of it. Needless to say, the bear overdosed. As for Thornton, his fate was also pretty grisly. Realizing he would need to bail, Thornton jumped from his plane … only his parachute didn’t open, and some unlucky fellow found Thornton dead on his driveway. “An elderly gentleman had called the dispatch and said that there was somebody in his yard and he didn’t look like he was moving.” The story was reported on by The New York Times, and now, this larger-than-life tale is getting what promises to be an even crazier big-screen adaptation.
More plot of the movie
Cocaine Bear is extremely filled with talent, just like the titular bear is totally stacked with coke. First up, there’s Keri Russell, best known for playing Russian spy Elizabeth Jennings in The Americans and the titular character in J.J. Abrams’ WB series Felicity. Russell will be joined in the picture by Margo Martindale, who won two Emmys for her role as Russell’s KGB handler in the aforesaid FX series, as well as Matthew Rhys, who appeared in the series as Russell’s husband/fellow covert spy, Philip Jennings.
They’ll be accompanied by the late, great Ray Liotta, who starred in films like Goodfellas and Field of Dreams. As the actor passed away in May 2022, Cocaine Bear will be the legendary actor’s final film. The movie also stars Alden Ehrenreich of Solo: A Star Wars Story fame, O’Shea Jackson Jr. from Straight Outta Compton, and Jesse Tyler Ferguson of Modern Family.
“Bears can’t climb trees, Of course, they can.”
In keeping with its reported horror-comedy vibe. Radio Silence was going to originally direct Cocaine Bear. The group comprised Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett. Elizabeth Banks has been announced as the director of “Cocaine Bear”. On the acting side of things, you know Banks from The Hunger Games franchise and the Pitch Perfect series.
In addition to Elizabeth Banks, Cocaine Bear has quite a bit of talent sitting behind the camera. The producers of “Cocaine Bear” are known for their skill in creating unconventional and intellectually stimulating films. Phil Lord and Chris Miller have been involved with the project since 2019. They are primarily renowned for their directorial work. Having helmed films like Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, 21 Jump Street, and The LEGO Movie. They’ve also produced quite a few winners, including The Mitchells vs. the Machines and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
Cocaine Bear is for the mature audience
This probably won’t come as much of a shock, but Cocaine Bear is going to feature some drug use. ( It’s right there in the title 🙂 ) Once that titular apex predator starts snorting that coke, things are going to get bloody — very, very bloody. After all, movies that feature very hungry bears, titles like Backcountry and The Revenant, tend to get pretty intense. And those guys weren’t even used when they decided to hunt down some humans. It should come as no surprise that Cocaine Bear has been rated R for “bloody violence”. Gore, drug content, and use of strong language” is throughout the movie.
