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True story about black bear who consumed 70 POUNDS of coke dropped by smugglers is made into movie by Elizabeth Banks
By VALERIE EDWARDS
10 March 2021
Of course, I’ll teach the bear to act! Honey, I had to deal with Ken Wahl without any cocaine. This is a win-win!
News of Elizabeth Banks directing a movie based on the true story of a bear that ate 70 pounds of cocaine dropped by drug smugglers three decades ago has sent Twitter into a frenzy and even prompted Bette Midler to offer her services as an acting coach.
The plot of the movie, titled Cocaine Bear, is being kept under wraps so far but will be based on the bizarre true story of a 175-pound black bear who died after eating cocaine it had found in a duffel bag in a Georgia forest back in 1985.
Authorities said the duffel back was part of a 300-pound shipment of Colombian cocaine that had been dropped out of a plane across eastern Tennessee and northern Georgia.
Convicted drug smuggler, Andrew Carter Thornton II, was linked to the shipment after his body was found on a driveway in Knoxville, Tennessee on September 11, 1985 with 77 pounds of cocaine strapped to his waist.
Authorities believe the 40-year-old’s parachute failed after he jumped from the plane.
The plot of Elizabeth Banks’ new movie, titled Cocaine Bear, is being kept under wraps so far but will be based on the bizarre true story of a 175-pound black bear who died after eating cocaine it had found in a duffel bag in a Georgia forest back in 1985. A relic of the Cocaine Bear is seen in Kentucky above +6
The plot of Elizabeth Banks’ new movie, titled Cocaine Bear, is being kept under wraps so far but will be based on the bizarre true story of a 175-pound black bear who died after eating cocaine it had found in a duffel bag in a Georgia forest back in 1985. A relic of the Cocaine Bear is seen in Kentucky above
News of Elizabeth Banks directing a movie based on the true story of a bear that ate 70 pounds of cocaine dropped by drug smugglers three decades ago sent Twitter into a frenzy on Wednesday
He was found wearing night-vision goggles and had knives and other survival gear in his possession.
Thornton was a former narcotics officer turned drug smuggler.
Investigators believe Thornton, who was the wealthy son of an elite Kentucky horse-breeding family, had intended to return to the area to collect the cocaine after it was dropped from the plane.
A small airplane slammed into a North Carolina mountainside the same day Thornton’s body was found and investigators believe he likely set the plane on automatic pilot before bailing out.
No bodies or cocaine were found at the wreckage site.
Authorities did, however, find the bear’s body in the Chattahoochee National Forest in the months after Thornton’s body was found.
The bear’s body and a duffel bag were located within 100 yards of three other duffel bags holding a total of 218 pounds of cocaine.
Authorities speculated that the animal had ripped the bag open and ate the drugs.
In 1985, authorities reported that a black bear (file image, right) died after eating cocaine from a duffel bag it found in a Georgia forest that was dumped there by a drug smuggler. Police said the duffel bag was part of a shipment dropped in the area by Andrew Carter Thornton II (left)
A fourth bag containing 75 pounds was found nearby just weeks later on November 5.
?It was an unusual case,? DEA agent Tony Acri said in a 1988 interview with the Associated Press.
?The fact that Thornton parachuted in carrying the dope – we haven’t seen that before.
?The use of air drops is a common occurrence in smuggling, (but) we had not seen someone parachute out with it.?
Following the news of Banks’ new film project, Cocaine Bear immediately became a trending topic on Twitter.
Bette Midler was among those to tweet about it, saying: ‘#ElizabethBanks is directing a movie based on a true story about a bear who consumed 70 pounds of #cocaine dropped into the woods by a smuggler in 1985. I don’t know if there’s a part that’s right for me in it, Liz, but if the bear needs an acting coach, I have seen some sh*t!’
Singer Jason Isbell also shared: ‘If y’all get John C. Reilly to play the cocaine bear I’ll score the movie for a bag of chili cheese Fritos and a Mt. Dew.’
Another person wrote: ‘The lack of movies called COCAINE BEAR is exactly what has been wrong with Hollywood for decades now.’
‘This sounds more cocaine-centric than bear-centric,’ one user shared.
One person tweeted: ‘And to think they said my ‘COCAINE BEAR’ google alert was ‘silly’ and ‘wouldn’t lead to anything of import for as long as cinema graces the silver screen’ well, well, well.’
‘I am here for the COCAINE BEAR CINEMATIC UNIVERSE. I’ll buy the action figures. I’ll get the app. I’ll make my kid watch the kid-friendly Netflix cartoon. Is there a Halloween costume? Put me in it,’ another shared.
Cocaine Bear is being produced by Lord Miller.
The movie is also backed by Universal and is based on an untitled spec written by Jimmy Warden, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
Banks previously directed the Charlie’s Angels reboot, starring Kristen Stewart, and Pitch Perfect 2.
