Elizabeth Banks Defends Cocaine Bear’s Extremely Controversial Scene
Elizabeth Banks says a scene in Cocaine Bear in which two children try the titular drug was necessary for the tone.
While Elizabeth Banks has managed to make it 25 years in Hollywood without ever trying cocaine, it hasn’t stopped her from making a movie about the drug. In Elizabeth Banks’ newest movie, the gory comedy Cocaine Bear, the Pitch Perfect 2 actress and director takes audiences on a wild ride based on the true story of an American black bear ingesting cocaine in the 1980s. However, if animals on drugs weren’t controversial enough, the film also features a scene where 12-year-olds try out the powdery white substance—a scene that Banks says was necessary for the tone of the film, according to Variety.
In the 1980s, a black bear in Chattahoochee National Forest in Georgia experienced the sad fate of ingesting and then overdosing on 70 pounds of cocaine dropped from the sky in a drug run gone bad. While the unfortunate demise of a wild animal from 40 years ago doesn’t seem like much of a story to make a film about, this black bear was the inspiration for Elizabeth Banks’ new R-rated action-comedy Cocaine Bear. However, unlike the real-life bear, Cocaine Bear doesn’t OD on the drug, but rather, the coked-up beast goes on a rampage through the woods, searching for more nose candy to blow, much to the horror of the citizens of Georgia who cross his path.
Elizabeth Banks has directed three features, with Cocaine Bear being the third. The actress’s first feature directorial debut was in Pitch Perfect 2, in which the actress also played a supporting role. While Pitch Perfect 2 was a major success, the director’s follow-up film, Charlie’s Angels, based on the 1970s television show, was a major flop. Next, Banks was interested in directing Marvel’s Thor: Ragnorak, though she never received a call back from the studio after her proposal.
This left Cocaine Bear to become Banks’ third directorial feature, a move that even the filmmaker herself has mentioned is risky. While Elizabeth Banks knows that if Cocaine Bear flops, it could mean the end of her career, the auteur is hopeful that her work in the movie will broaden the scope of what executives see female filmmakers are capable of. However, with the release of the film’s trailer, Cocaine Bear is already facing controversy after depicting a scene where children try drugs.
Critics of the film are calling Elizabeth Banks’ Cocaine Bear unethical because of this scene, but Banks is standing by her choice to keep it in the film. Despite the doubts Banks has admitted having about making the movie, she says that having 12-year-olds (played by child actors Brooklynn Prince and Christian Convery) try cocaine was essential to the plot and the tone of the feature. Banks admitted that the film’s team had discussions about whether to cut the scene or keep it, as well as whether they should make the characters older, but they ended up keeping the segment because the innocent age of the children was important to the story.
Despite the controversial scene, Cocaine Bear will hit theaters on February 24.
