Cocaine Bear is actually kind of about the War On Drugs, per director Elizabeth Banks
Elizabeth Banks says her new thriller serves as a "revenge story" for her leading bear, aptly nicknamed Cokey
Aux News Drugs
Add it to the list of things that Nancy Reagan wouldn’t approve of were she here today: Elizabeth Banks’ latest film Cocaine Bear. The premise of the project is as simple as the two words that make up its name: there’s a bear, and that bear does copious amounts of cocaine.
Inspired by true events that transpired in Georgia in 1985, Cocaine Bear follows a wild bear—charmingly referred to as “Cokey” on set—that ingests millions of dollars worth of cocaine after a smuggling operation goes off the rails.
“I knew when I read the script that I had the ability to make something truly unique,” Banks tells Entertainment Weekly in a new interview, also sharing that the period of stimulant-induced chaos was a “fun chapter in that bear’s story” to explore.
Sadly, the real-life “cocaine bear” met a more immediate, tragic end than its on-screen double. After finding out that that bear died from an overdose, Banks said she developed a soft spot for the creature and began recognizing some larger societal themes that may have contributed to its dramatic end.
“I felt a lot of sympathy for the bear,” Banks explains to EW. “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.’”
Per Banks, understanding Cokey through the greater cultural lens of Reagan-era policies gave her “a point of view and a purpose” in making Cocaine Bear. Ultimately, though, the film’s real thesis goes even broader than that.
“There’s a real message here,” Banks elucidates. “We should not fuck with nature, nature will win.”
Cocaine Bear arrives in theaters on February 24, 2023.
34 Comments
Bears don’t have credit cards, how does he chop out lines?
Hard sammich crusts.
Maybe they just do key-hits. Or they grow their pinky claw long.
Debit cards
Actually, 2022 was a pretty good year for them to establish credit, invest, and thrive. It’s been a bear market, you know.
That’s the one I was waiting for!
Well done sir
Picanick basket lids.
Bears have credit cards. They always pull them out when they are getting ready to charge.
What, you think they always make the twinks pay?
I’m also a big Adam Granduciel fan, this is great, can’t wait! 🐻🏔️
This sounds “Batshit…” as they say, but who knows.
But any movie or show about “the war on drugs” had better be about Black folks and other POC or GTFO. Sorry, not sorry. Not the best phrasing, Liz.
You know there are enormous numbers of people of all races dying of opioid overdoses now, right?
Yes. I don’t think you understand the War On Drugs; how this became the issue it is today. Review your history. Start with Reagan and the war on drugs. It was an intentional means of maintaining the 21st century version of Jim Crow.
I don’t think YOU understand the issue, which predates Reagan. Jim Crow was specific to the south, but the Rockefeller drug laws were in New York, where Jim Crow could not exist to be “maintained”. This movie doesn’t take place in New York, but the real guy who died smuggling in the cocaine was white.
I started with Nixon, is that okay?https://thebaltimorestory.org/history/nixons-war-on-drugs
Nevertheless
At least it’s a black bear.
Or what?
It’s a BOC. Don’t be speciesist.
You seem like a lot of fun.
Why’s everyone so harsh on The War on Drugs? I think they’re actually pretty good live if the venue has good acoustics.
I’m not sure I can draw a straight line from Reagan-era “war on drugs” to “idiot traffickers lose their shipment.” Even without the war on drugs, cocaine would likely still be illegal, and traffickers would still be trying to clandestinely move it from one place to another.
Yeah, coke was illegal before Reagan and is still illegal now. Still a damn shame about that bear, though.
The War on Drugs started with Nixon. So did the EPA.
The bear is called Cokey?Sounds hokey to me.
His cousin gets all the airtime, despite most people not knowing where his nickname really came from.
The War on Drugs are great live.
This sounds like a desperate attempt to make the movie be more profound than it actually is.
after a smuggling operation goes off the rails.Sure, the smuggling operation was off the rails, but cocaine bear was totally on the rails, amirite?
I’m calling the police
It’s a movie about a bear on a rampage because it’s high on coke, and it looks like a fucking blast.
Let’s not overcomplicate this, shall we?
Is nature the bear in this analogy? If so, how does an OD on coke get chalked up as a win?