Elizabeth Banks' Cocaine Bear, a movie about an incident in 1985 that left a 175-pound black bear dead from an overdose (true story), is scheduled for a February release. A drug smuggler dropped a load over Georgia and the bear, um, sniffed it out. Ray Liotta and Keri Russell star in the film.
On Dec. 22, 1985, UPI reported the bear died after it ate the contents of duffel bags containing 175 pounds of cocaine that were dropped using parachutes from a plane piloted by Kentucky smuggler Andrew "Drew" Thornton. The super-buzzed bear pawed through the coke before it went numb and died. Three months earlier, on September 11, Thornton jumped from that plane over Knoxville, Tennessee (he and his partner set it on autopilot), but his chute didn't wortk and he was killed.
Thornton's story is told with rich detail by Sally Denton in her 2016 book, The Bluegrass Conspiracy.
Banks has appeared in several stoner movies, including Wet Hot American Summer (2001), The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005), Kevin Smith's Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008) with Seth Rogen, Our Idiot Brother (2011) and Love & Mercy (2015). She directed Pitch Perfect 2 (2015) and Charlie's Angels (2019).
Watch the ludicrous Cocaine Bear trailer below.
