Keri Russell and Ray Liotta will star in the Elizabeth Banks-directed movie Cocaine Bear. Announced this March, the Universal Pictures thriller is from Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the Academy Award-winning producers behind Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Banks previously worked with the duo on The Lego Movie franchise and now they will be reuniting. After helming Pitch Perfect 2 and Charlie’s Angels (2019), both of which received lukewarm critical receptions, Banks will be returning to the director’s chair for Cocaine Bear.
Based on a bizarre true story from 1985, Cocaine Bear will follow Andrew Thornton, a former narcotics officer turned drug smuggler. During a drug run from Columbia that would eventually lead to his death, Thornton dropped several duffle bags of cocaine over Chattahoochee National Forest. One of them was soon discovered and devoured by a black bear, resulting in what is believed to be the biggest drug overdose in history. It’s unclear how much of this true story the film will adapt, but the bear was even stuffed, nicknamed Pablo EskoBear, and turned into an incredibly morbid tourist attraction.
Now, Elizabeth Banks is filling out Cocaine Bear’s cast. According to THR, Keri Russell (The Rise of Skywalker), Ray Liotta (Goodfellas), Alden Ehrenreich (Solo: A Star Wars Story), O’Shea Jackson Jr. (Straight Outta Compton) and Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Modern Family) will all star in the film. No details on who might play the film’s central character, Andrew Thornton, have been released. The project is expected to begin shooting in late August, meaning it will likely aim for a release date sometime in the middle of next year.
A recent post from Banks on social media reveals that the actor/director has relocated to Ireland to begin production of Cocaine Bear. While the true story the film depicts took place in Georgia, there is nothing that would require Banks to shoot there. Ireland is home to plenty of forestry areas and rolling green hills that resemble Chattahoochee National Forest. It will be interesting to see this ensemble cast come together, as each one has demonstrated talent in their previous credits.
While this true story sounds like the basis for a bizarre black comedy, Cocaine Bear will be a “character-driven thriller,” according to the film’s writer Jimmy Warden (whose only other credit is The Babysitter: Killer Queen). Banks has a number of projects lined up at Universal, including the sci-fi film The Invisible Woman and an adaptation of the children’s book, The Magic School Bus. Before then, it will be interesting to see how Banks’ original, stranger than fiction film Cocaine Bear fares.
Source: THR