Elizabeth Banks watched videos of bears drinking Coca-Cola to make Cocaine Bear come to life
The director of Cocaine Bear had a very unique conundrum when bringing the script to life – how do you make a cocaine-addicted bear feel real?
The bamboozling comedy, which is partly inspired by real events, tells the story of a 500-pound black bear that goes on a murderous rampage after unintentionally ingesting cocaine.
An oddball group of cops, criminals and children bunking off school then all add to the carnage in a Georgia forest.
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Thankfully, most of us will never encounter an animal that has ingested millions of dollars worth of the white stuff before going on a murder frenzy in a forest.
So, Elizabeth Banks - the mastermind behind the year’s wildest movie so far - naturally went to straight to the internet to watch videos of bears drinking fizzy drinks for inspiration.
And not just any drink - the drink that is well known for once containing small traces of cocaine.
“We did have to guess a bit because really none of us really know what a bear on cocaine will be like,” the director and actress tells LADbible.
“We did look at bears drinking Coca-Cola and what that would kind of feel like. We looked at a lot of bear behaviour like bears being upset at things, bathing, you know - just how fast some of them can move.
"But I felt we were able to take a little creative licence with the cocaine because no one will ever really know what a bear is like doing coke."
When Coca-Cola launched back in the 1800s, it was filled with caffeine and, at one point, contained a residual amount of cocaine precursor. The cocaine, which was derived from the coca leaf, was removed in the early 1900s.
Nothing was off limits for the film, which also sees children taking cocaine, an endless supply of disembodied limbs and, of course, fake blood galore.
"And if we felt we got to the line, we moved it. I needed to make a film that lived up to the title Cocaine Bear.”
Speaking of fake blood, there was so much used on set that the Charlie’s Angels director actually has no idea how much was used. However, the red liquid was made of sucrose sugar and a real-life horror story almost unfolded on set.
“It attracted tonnes of bees and wasps! They loved it. It was like honey to them and so anybody who had blood on them, had bees on them!" she said.
'Blood Bees' has a nice ring to it.
While joking about a possible sequel about bees, Banks quipped: “If you were afraid of bees on this shoot you couldn't have survived. It was terrifying.”
But among all the outrageousness, there’s actually a very wholesome story about parenting at the film’s core.
It was one of the things that ‘spoke’ to Banks when reading the Jimmy Warden-penned script: “What a sweet surprise to find out that the bear is a mother herself and that everybody in the film, no matter whether they're animal or human, is just trying to protect their cubs.
“Yes, there's a lot of chaos in this movie. Yes, it's crazy and wild. But at the end of the day, it really is partially just about connection and family.”
Cocaine Bear is out in cinemas across the UK now.
Topics: TV and Film
Gregory Robinson