Elizabeth Banks Says if She Had the Opportunity to Direct a ‘Cocaine Bear’ Sequel, She “Would Take It”

Christy Piña
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Elizabeth Banks is open to making a Cocaine Bear sequel.

In a conversation with Rolling Stone, the director and actress shared that she had a great time working on the film, which follows a 500-pound black bear after it consumes a significant amount of cocaine and embarks on a drug-fueled rampage in a Georgia forest.

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“I loved how subversive, crazy, silly and funny it was,” she said. “I loved surprising people with the cast. I don’t think anybody was expecting Margo Martindale, who’s 70 years old, to shoot that kid. We had a lot [of] fun, and if I got the opportunity to surprise the audience and delight myself again, I would take it.”

Banks shared that she hoped that directing the film would show that she can helm big, fun, bloody genre pictures in addition to things like Pitch Perfect 2 and Charlie’s Angels. Her diverse directing interests resemble her acting career.

“I’ve been very fortunate to work across a lot of genres and things that appeal to me,” she continued. “Cocaine Bear also came to me during the pandemic. We were all locked away, and I loved the sense of fun inside of it. It was what I wanted to see. And it had this message about mankind’s culpability in nature’s demise. It spoke to me on a lot of levels.”

Elsewhere in the profile, Banks discussed her newest film The Beanie Bubble, which details the Beanie Baby phenomena that overcame America in the 1990s and early 2000s and takes an in-depth look at how the zeitgeist came to be.

She explained that she believes that The Beanie Bubble, its fellow AppleTV+ project Tetris and Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, show that there seems to be a trend of projects coming out that hone in on nostalgia. People are creating films and TV shows now that look back at the things that were a big part of their formative years.

The Hunger Games actress also addressed the rumor that she pitched Marvel to let her direct Thor: Ragnarok, but they never got back to her.

“In terms of characters that I love in Marvel, that’s the character that I would have loved to take on,” Banks said. “I never had a pitch or a meeting about Thor. And, yeah, if it was the right character and a great idea, I would love to direct a superhero movie. My door’s really open to anything.”

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