Cocaine Bear director Elizabeth Banks says she would totally make Cocaine Shark
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How do you follow a film called Cocaine Bear? How about with one named Cocaine Shark!
Director Elizabeth Banks' new film Cocaine Bear is inspired by the true story of an actual bear that ingested millions of dollars' worth of cocaine after a failed drug smuggling operation caused packages of it to crash-land into a Georgia forest in 1985. Coincidentally, this week, The Guardian and many other sources reported that New Zealand authorities have found 81 bales of the same drug floating in international waters, enough cocaine to apparently supply Kiwis for 30 years.
Inevitably, the phrase "cocaine shark" began trending on Twitter, with users suggesting that this might be a good idea for a sequel to Cocaine Bear.
Michael Kovac/Getty Images; Stephen Frink/Getty Images Elizabeth Banks and a shark
Someone who agrees? Elizabeth Banks. When asked if she would consider tackling another project featuring another coked-out animal, she replied in the affirmative.
"I've seen that. If there's a great story, then sure," Banks told PEOPLE. "Jaws with cocaine? I don't see how that loses."
Banks previously spoke about her approach to making Cocaine Bear with EW writer Emlyn Travis as part of our 2023 Movie Preview.
"I felt a lot of sympathy for the bear," she said. "Like, wow, this bear — which, in real life, ended up dead after eating all this coke — ended up being sort of collateral damage in this war on drugs. And I just thought, 'Well, then this movie can be a revenge story for the bear.' And it just gave me a point of view and a purpose for making it. Like, there's a real message here: We should not f--- with nature. Nature will win."
Cocaine Bear roars into cinemas Feb. 24. Watch the film's trailer below.
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