Elizabeth Banks Answers All Our 'Cocaine Bear' Questions
When the gonzo trailer for Cocaine Bear was unleashed in November, the combination of the B-movie premise laced with A-list actors (including the late Ray Liotta) had the internet breathlessly asking, "Is this for real?" Turns out that Elizabeth Banks wondered the same thing when the script came across her desk back in April of 2020. “I remember thinking that this can’t be based on a true story,” Banks recalls. “Then, of course, I did the deep dive into Andrew Thornton II, the drug runner whose drugs the bear got into in real life.” The basis for the screenplay is indeed one of the stranger chapters from the Regan-era War on Drugs: a stash of cocaine dumped from Thornton’s plane was ingested by a black bear in Georgia, according to an autopsy performed on the unfortunate animal.
Against all odds, the film that arrives in theaters this weekend is far more than the sum of its cheeky two-word title. Instead of a thin premise stretched to feature length, Cocaine Bear is an intoxicating blend of suspense, cut with equal parts action, dark comedy and crime caper, sprinkled generously with shocking moments that will have some viewers watching through their fingers. Rampaging bear aside, Banks’s deft direction gets us fully invested in the hapless humans who convene in the Chattahoochee National Forest, all curious creatures in their own right. “My initial reaction to the script was that it was also a great character piece,” says Banks, who spoke with BAZAAR.com about why she signed on to bring Cocaine Bear to life and the big-screen blockbusters that inspired her.
For the people who might confuse Cocaine Bear with a cheesy Sharknado type of movie, what stood out to you about this project?
EB: I read this script in April 2020, and the world was very chaotic then. I felt the chaos in my own life. I read this script and I thought, wow, there’s no bigger representation of chaos than a bear who’s high on cocaine. Directing this film and pulling this all together, for me as a human being, it felt like a way to tame some of the chaos. I don’t think anyone should read too much into this movie. The fun of it is in the title. I wanted to entertain people. But as an artist, I did feel like I had a deeper reason for making this movie. And I think if people leave the theater connected to one another through the experience of seeing it together, then I have done my job well.
This is definitely the kind of movie that’s meant to be enjoyed in the theater with an audience. What are some of your first R-rated movie-going experiences that are still vivid for you to this day?
Well, my first R-rated movie in a theater was Flashdance. I actually think my mom had seen it and decided it was okay for us to see. My mom was like, "It’s just about a girl who wants to be a ballerina," ha! And she loved the soundtrack. I was probably 11 when I got to go see that movie in a theater. My mom took me and my sister to see it together, and obviously [Jennifer Beals] is like a stripper in the movie, looking back. But she wanted to be fancy.
The whole thing was, she came from this working class background that I’m also from. My father worked in a factory my whole life. I’ve been working jobs since I was 12. This idea of having these fancy big dreams was just drew me into that movie. And then, of course, the fashion. The off-the-shoulder sweatshirt and the leg warmers—oh my God! We all lived for the leg warmers and Jennifer Beals just being so gorgeous and interesting. And also the music, the soundtrack. That’s the kind of stuff that, to this day, really influences me. I want to open a movie with a great song. I want to draw people into the sense of place through the music. I want the fashion to be realistic. Cool, but not overwhelming and not too costume-y.
Stand By Me was also a big influence for me. I made the two kids in this movie watch it because it’s so much about kids walking through the woods and encountering adult scenes, adult ideas... I was a 12-year-old girl in 1985, and Brooklynn Prince plays a 12-year-old girl in 1985 in this movie. I love that these two kids get caught up in something in a way that everybody, when they’re 12, starts to lose their innocence a little bit.
What’s your favorite ’80s style or wardrobe detail from the film?
One of the little Easter eggs is that Dee Dee (Brooklynn Prince’s character) has in her bedroom a poster of Madonna. I obviously love Madonna. I grew up on Madonna. And Madonna in the poster is wearing a white shirt and black overalls. She’s got all her rubber bracelets, that whole look from the mid-’80s. And Deedee is wearing that outfit throughout the movie—a kid version of Madonna’s black overalls over the t-shirt.
There’s a tense but surprisingly endearing scene where these preteens Dee Dee and Henry (played by Christian Convery) bond over their discovery of a brick of cocaine. What did you use for the fake cocaine that they sample in the scene?
We used mostly sugar, but when the kids tasted it, we did add a little salt so that their reaction would not just be like, “Ooh, yummy.” I wanted to give them a little “Ew, gross.” So that it would be as real as possible when they spit it out.
Did your team have any unexpected run-ins with wildlife while filming?
The main pests on our set were wasps and bees. There’s a lot of gore in the movie—appropriate gore, I think. And the fake blood we use is partially made with sucrose, so... sugar. And man, do bees love sugar. Every time we had fake blood on the walls or on somebody’s hand or face, they would basically be attacked by wasps. One [actor] had to sort of lie dead on a floor at one point for two days on end in the background of some other action, covered in the fake blood. And he was covered in bees. He was so brave. I’m not afraid of bees, but man, a lot of people are. And he was so chill about it. I mean, they were everywhere on the set.
Can you share any memories of working with Ray Liotta on this?
I’m so grateful to Ray Liotta. He came so joyfully to set every day. He totally got it. He asked for more jokes when he read the script. He was like, “Everybody gets to be kind of quirky and funny. I need to have a little more quirk.” My main takeaway of Ray has got to be... I was in a shop on a little street in Dalkey, Ireland, where we shot the film. Ray and his fiance, Jacy, were crossing the street coming from the pub. They had a little doggy bag in their hand. They were arm in arm and he was laughing. That is how I remember Ray. Just walking arm in arm, happy, with the woman that he loves.
In the editing phase, what challenges did you came up with nailing the unique tone of this movie?
EB: The biggest challenge is that you have to edit the movie without the star of the movie. I mean, you’re really trying to mark through where you think the bear is, how big the bear is in frame, what the bear is doing. I will say that the first edit of the ambulance chase scene, which is everyone’s favorite scene—and mine too... When that first got put together, there was no bear, nothing chasing the ambulance, just everybody acting with nothing. And even then, the chaos and scrappiness of it came through. And I thought, “Oh, this is going to work. Okay!”
If you were to program this movie in a mini-fest at someplace like Lincoln Center or the New Beverly, what would you show it with?
Oh, gosh. I would show it with Pulp Fiction. And Evil Dead. And I would show it with Shaun of the Dead... And I would show it with Jurassic Park.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. Cocaine Bear is out in theaters this Friday, February 24, 2023.
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