“Cocaine Bear” screenwriter Jimmy Warden is shocked that the film was made.
The author wrote the screenplay for Elizabeth Banks’ new film about a bear who runs amok after swallowing a bag of cocaine, and reflected on how the project gained momentum after initial pitches to studios.
Jimmy told IndieWire, “I think everyone was like, ‘OK… great’ when I wrote the movie and like, ‘Good luck with that,’ and then as things started to pick up steam, they got pretty excited.”
The screenwriter realized that the film, which is loosely based on a true story, had a chance of success when he explained the plot to his family.
Warden said, “I have to give them credit for it, they were really excited when I suggested it (to my family) – you know, you come home for Thanksgiving or whenever and they ask, ‘What are you working on?’ and I said, ‘Well, I have this idea for this movie called ‘Cocaine Bear.'” So at that point, that was a pretty good sign.”
The film is about drug smuggler Andrew C. Thornton II, who in 1985 dropped a load of cocaine from his plane that landed in Georgia and was eaten by the bear – who died instantly – and Jimmy stumbled upon the story by chance.
He recalled: “I was just surfing the Internet and doing absolutely nothing. I probably should have been working, but I was sitting at my desk and not looking for a film idea.”
“I just thought, ‘Damn it, let’s just get through the day.’ And then I found the story of Andrew Carter Thornton and the Cocaine Bear and then I just couldn’t stop clicking links. I thought, ‘OK, this has to be a movie.'”
