Elizabeth Banks Presents Trailer For Hilarious ‘Vicious Bear’: ‘Reality Was Stranger Than Fiction’

Elizabeth Banks returns to directing and does so with solid foundations. The famous actress will premiere her third film behind the scenes in 2023, “Oso Vicioso”. In English baptized as ‘Cocaine Bear’, the title already gives a good example of what can be expected of her. And although there are still a few months left to enjoy it, Universal Pictures has already released its first trailer. A small taste of the numerous genres in which the film will move, and where Escobear, the protagonist bear, named after the drug dealer Pablo Escobar, is officially presented.

“We used the story of Andrew Thornton dropping cocaine from his plane as a starting point. The film tells an imaginary glimpse of what the next 24 hours were like, when the bear first encountered cocaine.”, explains Banks in an interview for eCartelera on the occasion of the launch of the trailer. And is that, yes, “Vicious Bear” is based on a true story that happened in 1985, when former narcotics agent and drug trafficker at the time Andrew Thornton was forced to dump all the drugs he was carrying on his plane, jumping himself in a parachute with several kilograms of it and dying during the jump itself.

“It’s also the story of all those people who may have been involved in the search for the drug. It’s interesting that the authorities never found the cocaine dropped from the plane. The only thing they found was, months later, a bear Bruno who had consumed a few 30kg”, says the director. Escobear was found dead by the forest ranger and the cause of death was found to be an overdose, suffering multiple health issues before dying. “Reality is stranger than fiction in this case. I have a lot of sympathy for the bear in the true story. It was the collateral damage of a disastrous drug trade. This film is the bear’s revenge”says Banks, “For us, there was an unfilled gap in that information, and we wanted to tell what the hell could have happened”.

Preparing the film assumed more than two years of work since Banks first received news of the story. “There was a great script by Jimmy Warden that they sent me from Lord Miller Productions, I think because they wanted someone who really understood the tone of the film”says the director. “It’s a special and unique shade and they knew I would wear it well. We have the same kind of humor and they wanted to do something very bestial. Every time I direct I think I will finish my career. So if I had to go, I had to go big.”he adds between laughter. And from what we see in the trailer, he hasn’t backed down.

A unique project

Desperate persecutions against humans, violent and savage action, lots of black and irreverent humor. A joke that Banks had a lot of fun with. “It is a war, comedy, action and suspense film. Those are the four genres I would put it in. But the title of the film itself… If you want an original cinematic experience, this film delivers what it promises in the title”certify.

“I think every experience helps to grow. But when I read the script I realized that this was the genre that I’ve always liked, that I never thought of directing”ensures, “I love the gore, the practical effects, the special effects… One of the most exciting things for me is that I’d never done a CGI film but didn’t want to work on a green screen, and this was a chance to shoot it the old-fashioned way, outdoors in the woods. We shot as much on camera as possible and then just put the bear on film.”. And is that, at least in advance, the quality of the effects seems to be very careful, especially with the bear.

“The bear took two years to create. I had interviews with several special effects studios. The choice of one was very obvious when we met with Film FX Ireland. They immediately understood the tone, that the bear had to be photorealistic, almost straight out of a documentary.”points out Banks regarding the design of the animal protagonist of ‘Oso Vicioso’, “But he also had to have personality because he was addicted to cocaine”. In any case, the most important thing for the director was the authenticity to, from there, become old-fashioned. “We had to use our imagination to figure out the idea, but we wanted the bear to look real, we had to convince the audience”phrase.

Ray Liotta, eternal genius

Finally, Banks was keen to recall the cast he had under his command. ‘Vicious Bear’ features a cast of notable names such as Alden Ehrenreich (‘Han Solo: A Star Wars Story’), Keri Russell (‘Felicity’), Jesse Tyler Ferguson (‘Modern Family’), Kristofer Hivju (‘Game of Thrones’)… and Ray Liotta. The ‘Goodfellas’ actor passed away in May 2022, this being one of his last films. “I really enjoyed working with Ray. We had worked together before and I knew it would be great. It was a gift on set, he trusted me, and there’s no better gift for a director than actors’ trust. I think he knew I’d ask him to be funny, to wear a wig, to do crazy things in the woods… And he was up for anything. He came to the shoot with a lot of energy every day. I couldn’t be more grateful for that.”recalls the director with sadness and delusion.

Preview of “Vicious Bear”. in theaters April 5, 2023.