A producer for “Cocaine Bear” explained how the film has a political message embedded within its “DNA.”
Semafor’s Benjy Sarlin asked producer Aditya Sood in a text, “Cocaine Bear is a movie about a bear who does cocaine, of course. But is it a metaphor for anything about our politics as well?”
Sood replied, “Someone told me once early in my career that every movie has a theme whether you intend it or not. But in this case, our screenwriter Jimmy Warden really did want to do a low-key satirical critique about the failed Nixon/Reagan era war on drugs.”
He added, “So it’s embedded in the comedic DNA of the movie. Between the kills.”
The R-rated horror comedy raked in $23 million during its opening weekend.
The movie’s website explained the film was “inspired by the 1985 true story of a drug runner’s plane crash, missing cocaine, and the black bear that ate it, this wild dark comedy finds an oddball group of cops, criminals, tourists and teens converging in a Georgia forest where a 500-pound apex predator has ingested a staggering amount of cocaine and gone on a coke-fueled rampage for more blow … and blood.”
Watch the trailer below:
The film is directed by actress Elizabeth Banks and stars actors including, Keri Russell, O’Shea Jackson, Jr., Christian Convery-Jennings, Alden Ehrenreich and Jesse Tyler Ferguson.
Time asked Banks what specifically drew her to the film.
“I read this script in April 2020, when the world had come to a standstill and chaos was all around me. We were all wiping down our groceries and there were fires raging in California and I just thought, ‘Wow, there’s no greater emblem of chaos than a bear high on cocaine.’ Directing this film felt almost cathartic—I could tame the chaos a little bit,” Banks said.
The director told Time she “knew there was this really high concept hook in the rampaging bear. But I also felt that the script offered incredible character stories.”
Banks explained, “The combination of all these elements presented a challenge to me that felt like it was a really high degree of difficulty. But I knew that if I did it right it would become this very entertaining, heartfelt, fun, energetic movie.”
