Cocaine Bear… based on a true story? The film just hit the theaters and is raking in big numbers. Wildly, the action-comedy may be chronicled from real-life events.
Is it a factual tale? The answer is, yes. In the 1980s, a drug smuggler (Andrew C. Thornton II) disposed of a cluster of cocaine in the woods in northern Georgia, and ultimately a black bear stumbled upon the drugs and ate roughly 75 pounds worth. As a result, the bear perished. Though, in the movie, the bear goes on a celebrated massacre.
Nonetheless, you can see why the moviemakers elected to modernize the reality-laced fable — and why they rerouted the ending.
In Cocaine Bear, the cocaine-infused bear slays various people. And, vitally, the black bear survives (versus the true story… where the animal dies).
Is Cocaine Bear Based On A True Story? Here’s What We Know…
Chris Miller, co-producer of the film, remarked: “We like to live in that alternate universe where the dead bear is a cover-up. They didn’t want people to think that there was a cocaine-fueled bear on a rampage out there in the woods still. The ending sort of evolved as we were working on the film.”
He added, “We realized, with all of these great actors — Keri [Russell], Margo [Martindale], all these amazing people and interesting stories happening — the real protagonist of the movie was the bear. The character that everybody cared about was the bear,” Miller continued. “When we left it ambiguous, audiences wanted to know, ‘What happened to the bear!? Is the bear okay? We love the bear!’”
“You’re rooting for the bear and you’re rooting for the bear to come back and kill the bad guy and protect her cubs. You end up having a connection with this out-of-control raging monster who you end up rooting for,” Miller continued. “And so we thought it would be more fun and more satisfying to leave her alive.”
Are you shocked that Cocaine Bear is based on a true story? Tell us below!
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