Cocaine Bear's Elizabeth Banks on Possibility of Directing a Sequel
Elizabeth Banks isn't completely ruling out the idea of a Cocaine Bear sequel (stream the first one on Peacock right here!), but it would have to match the dizzying, drug-induced heights of the original movie in order for her to step back into the role of director.
"I had an absolutely great time working on the project. I loved how subversive, crazy, silly, and funny it was," she told Rolling Stone ahead of the SAG-AFTRA strike earlier this month. "I loved surprising people with the cast. I don’t think anybody was expecting Margo Martindale, who’s 70 years old, to shoot that kid. We had a lot fun, and if I got the opportunity to surprise the audience and delight myself again, I would take it."
RELATED: Cocaine Bear Meets Jaws? Nope, Just a Bear Happily Swimming in the Gulf of Mexico on a Crowded Beach
She later continued: "I’ve been very fortunate to work across a lot of genres and things that appeal to me. Cocaine Bear also came to me during the pandemic. We were all locked away, and I loved the sense of fun inside of it. It was what I wanted to see. And it had this message about mankind’s culpability in nature’s demise. It spoke to me on a lot of levels."
Keri Russell as Sari in Cocaine Bear, directed by Elizabeth Banks. Photo: Universal Studios
A prominent idea being thrown around on social for a second movie involves a shark (one of the oldest carnivores on the planet) getting high on the powdery white nose candy. That may sound like a far-fetched premise... until you learn it actually has some basis in reality.
Earlier this year, New Zealand authorities found over three tons of the narcotic floating in the Pacific Ocean. Heck, woudn't it would be quite interesting to see an entire anthology of Cocaine [insert animal here] movies centered around different apex predators accidentally coming across a drug that super-charges their innate killing power?
With a good chunk of Hollywood on strike, however, the conversation surrounding an entire franchise has gone into a temporary state of hibernation. "Currently nothing’s really happening, as we’re all on hold!" Banks explained. "So, it’s yet to bear out. I do not have a next directing project. I am uncommitted at this time."
Discover the white-powdered insanity for yourself. Cocaine Bear is now streaming on Peacock alongside a 51-minute documentary exploring the true story behind the drugged-up apex predator.
