Is ‘Cocaine Bear’ based on a true story? What’s true and what’s not about the movie

Elizabeth Banks’ new movie ‘Cocaine Bear’, which stars Keri Russell and Ray Liotta, who passed away in May 2022, hits theaters on Friday, February 24.

The movie pairs together bizarre truth with off-the-wall action, with the movie’s title telling viewers about the plot.

“After ingesting a duffel bag full of cocaine, a 500 pound American black bear goes on a killing rampage in a small town of Georgia where a group of locals and tourists must join forces to survive the attack,” reads the synopsis.

The film is directed and co-produced by Elizabeth Banks, and features an ensemble cast that includes Keri Russell, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Christian Convery, Alden Ehrenreich, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Brooklynn Prince, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Kristofer Hivju, Hannah Hoekstra, Margo Martindale, and Ray Liotta in one of his final performances before his death.

Is ‘Cocaine Bear’ based on a true story?

Though bizarre, the tale was in fact inspired by a true story.

According to the movie’s official website, it’s “inspired by the 1985 true story of a drug runner’s plane crash, missing cocaine, and the black bear that ate it.”

The real life bear was a 150 pound American black bear, who was discovered on a hillside in Fannin County, Georgia next to a duffel bag and 40 open containers with traces of cocaine in them.

According to the Washington Post, the bear was found to have around three to four grams of the drug in its blood stream following an autopsy. Narcotics investigators who made the discovery believe the drugs were ditched by trafficker Andrew Carter Thornton II months earlier.

They say he planned on returning and retrieving the packages later, but Thornton died after falling out of a plane in September 1985 with a failed parachute and 34 packs of cocaine nearby.

How does the movie differ from the real life story?

The movie does take some creative liberties, especially when it comes to the bloody rampage the bear goes on in the movie.

In real life, the creature never killed anybody. Investigators say it had been dead for about four weeks before it was found in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Georgia.

“The bear got to it before we could, and he tore the duffel bag open, got him some cocaine and OD’d (overdosed),” said Gary Garner, who worked for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation at the time.

“There’s nothing left but bones and a big hide.”

The bear was eventually stuffed, and even owned by country music legend Waylon Jennings, for a time. It now resides in the Fun Mall retail store in Kentucky.

The store is lending it to its local cinema so viewers can meet the real bear, and even buy special merch.