Cocaine Bear is one of the most anticipated films of 2023, thanks to its direct title, stellar cast and crew, and zany premise. The film, directed by Elizabeth Banks and written by Jimmy Warden, is based on the true 1985 story of a bear ingesting a massive amount of cocaine accidentally dropped into a Tennessee forest by smugglers. Although the true story ends with the bear dying from an overdose, the film takes liberties and transforms the beast into a rampaging maneater.
Before Cocaine Bear hits theaters on February 24th, we spoke with writer Jimmy Warden about the film, a possible sequel, and working with the late, great Ray Liotta. Warden also discusses his upcoming movie, Borderline, starring his wife and production partner, Samara Weaving.
Horror Geek Life: Cocaine Bear is one of the year’s most anticipated films. I even know someone who bought bear costume pieces to wear to the theater! So, how are you feeling right now? Nervous at all?
Jimmy Warden: I think that just putting it into perspective, I feel like I’m sort of playing with house money at this point. They put a movie on 3,000 screens that I wrote, so I think, at this point, I should let everything else go, so to speak. This is it. It’s just like, the win was that they made a movie about a bear that does cocaine in the woods and kills people, and I think people will like it. I think it’ll do well, but I don’t know. I’m not that nervous about it.
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Horror Geek Life: That’s good to hear. How did this first come across your desk, so to speak?
Jimmy Warden: The true story is what I found initially, and it was totally interesting to me just from a curiosity standpoint. I’m a true crime fan, and I found the story of Andrew Carter Thornton. I read about the bear ingesting 70 pounds of cocaine, which was very hooky, but the true story kind of ends there for the bear.
In terms of the true crime of it all, the bear eating the cocaine is sort of the footnote; it’s the end. In writing this, the first major decision that I made when I was concocting it was I wanted that to be the beginning, and what if the bear doesn’t die? What if the bear lives, and what if cocaine causes the bear to go on a rampage?
Horror Geek Life: I love the trailer, and seeing Ray Liotta in one of his final films is bittersweet. What was it like to work with him on set?
Jimmy Warden: Yeah, it was surreal, to say the least, and obviously tragic what ended up happening and very sad. I just feel lucky to have been able to work with him and that I wrote a movie on his long list of incredible movies that he’s done and just like a tiny, tiny part of his story.
I guess what I’ll say about Ray is that he is who you want Ray Liotta to be. He definitely surpasses your expectations just as a performer and as a person as a human being. He came to set every day with this energy that spread and was contagious among the other actors and the crew. Every time he showed up, it was so much fun.
Have you seen the film?
Horror Geek Life: Not yet! But I will be there opening weekend.
Jimmy Warden: Oh my god, all right, so I won’t give you any spoilers. And, great, yes, bring your friends.
Horror Geek Life: There’s some fun talk about a shark-related sequel. Do you think this is something you’d be interested in? Or maybe a Cocaine Bear sequel?
Jimmy Warden: Well, I definitely have ideas about how to expand the Cocaine Bear universe. I haven’t read that much about Cocaine Shark or whatever, but what I loved about this story was how the true story grounded the movie and allowed us to kind of go to crazy places with it. What I loved about the true story is how plausible it is and it actually happened in reality. It is true. Duffle bags of cocaine fell out from the sky and into a bear’s habitat, and he ate it. So nobody can say you went too far; we’re not really sure that would ever happen. But you know that it’s real.
So I think in terms of expanding the universe, I need that inciting incident to be just as realistic and be able to ground the characters in similar ways.
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Horror Geek Life: Before we wrap, I wanted to ask about your upcoming film, Borderline. Can you tell us what we can expect?
Jimmy Warden: Borderline is shot; we’re finishing it in the coming weeks. It’s kind of a weird take on a home invasion and a stalker story where the stalker, played by Ray Nicholson, invades the home of a pop star in the ‘90s in Los Angeles, and he believes that he’s going to his wedding. Like he’s pretending it’s his wedding day, basically, and he’s marrying the pop star, played by Samara.
We’re describing it as a violently romantic comedy, so you can expect it to be as gory or similar in tone as Cocaine Bear and its comedy.
Horror Geek Life: Is it coming this year or still TBA?
Jimmy Warden: We haven’t gone out to distributors. It’s a true indie right now, so I’m gonna figure that out. But yeah, later this year, I think.
