Elizabeth Banks Gets 'Nearly Tripped' By Cocaine Bear at Oscars 2023: 'Put Your Paw Down'

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Elizabeth Banks tripped on the hem of her dress, was chased by Cocaine Bear, and apologized for her scratchy throat as she presented the award for Best Visual Effects at the 2023 Oscars.

"Hit the mark," the Cocaine Bear director, 49, said to the beast as he joined her at the mic. "Oh, my God — he tripped me."

Banks segued into an explanation of the importance of excellence in the category.

"I recently directed the film Cocaine Bear," she said. "Without visual effects, this is what the bear would look like."

She added, "It's terrifying, stop it. No director wants to deal with this. What are you doing? Stop it, put your paw down, are you trying to score right now? You need to wait for the afterparty like everybody else."

The actress/director then shouted out the nominees for their achievements, as her voice faltered and cracked.

"Visual effects — sorry my voice — can enhance any story and are an incredible tool for filmmakers like me," she said. "Without visual effects, Cocaine Bear would have been some actor in a bear suit, probably on cocaine."

Banks then announced the winner of the category, Avatar: The Way of Water, which bested All Quiet on the Western Front, The Batman, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Top Gun: Maverick in the category.

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The Hunger Games alum recently told PEOPLE that she "definitely didn't shy away from" making her new movie — which stars Keri Russell, Alden Ehrenreich, Margo Martindale, O'Shea Jackson Jr., Jesse Tyler Ferguson and the late Ray Liotta, and is based on a true story — a visually gory and gnarly experience.

"In my initial presentation [I] brought to the table a lot of really gruesome real life photography of people who have had limbs ripped off and things like that, and giant gashes and bites," the director says of pitching the movie. "And [I] just sort of said, 'I want this...' I wanted The Revenant."

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"Every time we talked about the bear, it was like, 'It's got to be The Revenant,' she adds, referencing the 2015 Leonardo DiCaprio movie. "The first couple kills have to be that gnarly so that you understand that everyone should be afraid of the bear. That was a big part of it for me."

The Oscars are airing live on ABC on Sunday, March 12, at 8 p.m. ET.