Alden Ehrenreich teases the wildly absurd Cocaine Bear, praising its originality. Although the title may seem too bizarre to be a real movie, Cocaine Bear is, in fact, Elizabeth Banks' new black comedy thriller. Shockingly based on a true story, Cocaine Bear follows an American black bear who stumbles upon a duffel bag full of cocaine. After ingesting the drugs, the bear goes on a murderous rampage, terrifying the residents of a small town in Georgia. Cops, criminals, locals, and tourists must band together in order to survive the murderous beast.
In a Hollywood landscape of reboots, sequels, and franchises, Cocaine Bear is a truly original idea that is primed for internet fame and gained traction on social media when it was first announced. While at Sundance Screen Rant spoke with Ehrenreich who was promoting his new movie Fair Play. Ehrenreich praised Cocaine Bear for its heart and originality, saying, "this bizarre movie that is unlike anything else."
Alden Ehrenreich: Oh, it's such a wild, crazy movie. It's also got a lot of heart, and it's kind of sweet. But it's just this bizarre movie that is unlike anything else, you know? I'm excited. The originality of it is very exciting to me.
Why Cocaine Bear Is Wise To Lean Into The Humor
Cocaine Bear leans into a style of filmmaking that has proven to be hugely successful. Although this is clearly a thriller with elements of gore-filled horror, the movie leans into the fantastically funny elements. This has proven wildly successful for horror box office hits, including M3GAN and Scream V. Perhaps most intriguing is Ehrenreich's making a point of talking about the surprising heart and sweetness of the movie which director and producer Banks has also touched upon in the past.
Banks has talked about being inspired by some true directing legends, including Steven Spielberg, Sam Raimi, John Carpenter, Quentin Tarantino, and the Coen Brothers, when crafting Cocaine Bear. Taking note of the terror surrounding a rampaging animal in Jaws as well as the inherent beauty and dangers of nature that Spielberg captures with Jurassic Park as well as the horror, comedy, and gore in Raimi's genre-defining horror movies are insightful building blocks that primes Cocaine Bear to potentially be a surprise box office hit. Heavily leaning into the absurdity of the premise for comedy and horror will be key, but Banks' dedication to finding the pathos adds a surprising layer of humanity to this dark comedy thriller.
The actual story of the real-life Cocaine Bear (aka Pablo Escobear) is tragic, with the animal dying after overdosing on narcotics. Cocaine Bear takes a spark of inspiration from this strange occurrence but fleshes out the possibilities into an outrageous premise. Banks is wise to balance Cocaine Bear between comedy and thriller, given the ongoing success of this genre-bending storytelling.
