The trailer for Ray Liotta’s last ever film has been released, with fans raving that it could be the best thriller of 2023.
Cocaine Bear, a new film by director Elizabeth Banks, tells the story of a 175-pound black bear who eats tons of cocaine and tears a Georgia forest apart as he searches for his next high.
It is the dramatic retelling of a true story of a black bear that ingested an entire duffel bag carrying about 70 pounds of cocaine that had fallen out of a drug smuggler’s plane in September 1985 before the crook fell to his death.
The real-life bear was found dead three months later, lying beside an empty bag and 40 opened bags of blow, with a medical examiner ruling he suffered from cerebral hemorrhaging, respiratory failure, hyperthermia, renal failure, heart failure and a stroke.
His taxidermized body is now on display at the Kentucky for Kentucky Fun Mall in Lexington.
But while the real-life bear did not seem to survive long after ingesting the drugs, the film sees him maul victims and climb trees while folks in a Georgia town try desperately to track down the missing blow.
Anyone who gets in the bear’s way will be mauled in the dark comedy, and even those who seek to hide behind bushes or up trees are not safe — as the drug-fueled beast seeks them out and rips them limb from limb.
Cocaine Bear tells the story of a 175-pound black bear who eats tons of cocaine and tears a Georgia forest apart as he searches for his next high
The bear could be seen in the trailer for the new movie happily gulping down a bag of blow
He attacks anyone who might get in his way in his drug-fueled rage
The film is actually based on a true story of a black bear that ingested an entire duffel bag carrying about 70 pounds cocaine that had fallen out of a drug smuggler’s plane in December 1985. The real-life Cocaine Bear is pictured here on display at the Kentucky for Kentucky Fun Mall in Lexington
The highly anticipated film stars Keri Russell, Matthew Rhys, O’Shea Jackson, Jr., Isiah Whitlock Jr and, of course, Liotta.
Its two-minute long trailer, released on Wednesday, prominently features the stars as they desperately try to catch the bear rampaging through the town. But the true star of the film seems to be the CGI bear.
The beast is first seen in the clip when a pair of medics approach a cabin, where they hear growling only to find the bear apparently cowering in a corner of a back room.
When the male medic suggests they leave, the bear breaks down the door and tackles him growling straight into his face.
The trailer then goes on to show local officials prowling the town for the missing cocaine that had fallen from a drug smuggler’s plane, with even young children joining in on the search.
But ultimately, it seems, the bear is able to beat them all to it as he continues his murderous rampage.
Commentators on YouTube are now saying the film, set to be released in February, looks like a ‘masterpiece,’ with one person writing: ‘The greatest movie of 2023 is approaching.’
Another commented: ‘A movie about a bear high off cocaine that’s also Ray Liotta’s last ever film appearance. This is cinema.’
And a third joked: ‘When Nicole Kidman waxes poetic about “We come to this place for magic” in those AMC ads, she was talking about movies like this.’
The bear in the film carefully stalks his prey before tearing them limb from limb
In one scene, the beast could be happily laying on his back after getting sufficiently high
Not even those hiding behind trees or in bushes are safe from the bear’s rampage
Meanwhile, town officials work hard to track down all of the missing cocaine that has fallen from a drug smuggler’s plane
The film has already gained rave reviews based on the trailer on YouTube
In real life, though, the story is not nearly as exciting — though the bear did gain some fame and traveled the country after his death.
Andrew Thornton II, a notorious Lexington narcotics police officer turned drug smuggler, offloaded the cocaine from his plane while flying over Georgia in 1985
The story begins when Andrew Thornton II, a notorious Lexington narcotics police officer turned drug smuggler, offloaded packages of cocaine from Columbia while flying over a forest in Georgia in September 1985.
He then jumped from the plane to his death, after getting tangled up in his parachute.
Thornton’s body was later recovered in Knoxville, Tennessee with night vision goggles on his face and Gucci loafers on his feet.
He had knives, a couple of pistols, $4,500 in cash and a duffel bag filled with about 75 pounds of cocaine worth $15million at the time.
Nearly 30 years later, the owners of the Kentucky for Kentucky Fun Mall — who seek to preserve the state’s heritage — decided to contact the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to find out whatever happened to the bear.
They eventually learned that he was taxidermized after his death and was put on display at the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area in Georgia.
Mr. Bear, as Kentucky for Kentucky co-owner Whit Hiler affectionately calls him, then spent some time in storage, from where he was stolen.
The bear finally resurfaced among country legend Waylon Jennings’s private collection of preserved animals in Las Vegas, the Courier-Journal reports.
But by the time Hiler and his crew found the bear, he was serving as a decoration in a traditional Chinese medicine shop in Reno, Nevada.
The owner ultimately agreed to sell the bear to the mall as long as they paid $200.
Since then, Cocaine Bear has become a staple of Kentucky, with people arriving at the Lexington shopping center from across the world to glance the infamous beast.