Elizabeth Banks is directing the upcoming Cocaine Bear movie, about a bear that eats cocaine and goes on a killing rampage, and she would be up to make a Cocaine Shark movie next. Speaking to People, Banks said she saw the news story about authorities finding 3.5 tons of cocaine in the ocean and the social media frenzy about a potential Cocaine Shark movie. She’s up for it.
“I’ve seen that. If there’s a great story, then sure,” Banks said. “Jaws with cocaine, I don’t see how that loses.”
For anyone just catching up, New Zealand police found 3.5 tons of cocaine floating in the Pacific Ocean recently, with the theory being that drug-smugglers dropped it there. No arrests have been made in New Zealand’s largest-ever drug seizure, according to the Associated Press. The wholesale value of the 3.5 tons of cocaine is about $316 million USD, and the drugs were believed to have been destined for Australia.
Cocaine Bear is based on the true story of a 175-pound black bear that was found dead near the Tennessee-Georgia state line after apparently consuming over 70 pounds of cocaine that had been dropped from a plane by a local drug smuggler. In the movie, the bear is much bigger and is hunting not only for more cocaine, but also human flesh.
Banks promises that Cocaine Bear will feature some gnarly, brutal killing scenes, especially early on to set the tone. “Every time we talked about the bear, it was like, ‘It’s got to be The Revenant,'” Banks told People, referencing the Leonardo DiCaprio movie in which he gets mauled by a bear. “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.”
Cocaine Bear, which is rated R, will have extreme gore because it will depict bears doing what they do in nature–eating their prey alive.
Cocaine Bear releases on February 24 and stars Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Matthew Rhys, Keri Russell, Margo Martindale, and Alden Ehrenreich, as well as Ray Liotta in one of his final movie roles.
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