Elizabeth Banks is returning to her comedy-horror roots with Cocaine Bear, a movie based off the bizarre but true story of an ill-fated black bear eating millions of dollars worth of cocaine.
Banks told ABC Audio she wanted to direct this movie because, “It’s one of the most unique scripts I’ve ever read!”
“It’s… about a drug deal gone wrong and a poor black bear in the Chattahoochee National Forest who consumes $17 million dollars worth of cocaine,” she explained, before teasing how Cocaine Bear deviates from what actually happened in 1985. “[The bear] goes on a rampage to find more coke. And, of course, lots of other people — the authorities and the drug dealers — are all looking for the coke.”
Banks promised, “It’s a crazy horror film. It’s bananas. It lives up to its name. And that was my creative goal, to make a movie that justifies having the title ‘Cocaine Bear.”
Banks, who’s “having the time of my life” making the film, revealed that part of the fun is also being able to bring back the 80s. The Hunger Games star said she bonded with the movie’s younger stars by sharing stories and memories from her childhood growing up in Pittsfield, MA. “It’s been really fun to talk to them about what life really was like [back then,]” she said.
Banks is no stranger to horror, either, having starred in James Gunn‘s 2006 directorial debut, Slither.
“I love these types of movies, so I’ve always wanted to make one,” she explained. “But it was not until I read this particular script that… I wanted to throw myself into this genre and see what I can bring to it.”
Cocaine Bear, which recently wrapped filming, will charge into theaters in 2022.
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