Film-makers find inspiration in different aspects of life, and a bear has now become the muse for a film. Tentatively titled Cocaine Bear, Elizabeth Banks is working on a film revolving around the black bear that died of a drug overdose during the “Bluegrass Conspiracy” epoch. The film is backed by Universal Pictures, and Deadline reported that the movie is “a character-driven thriller inspired by true events that took place in Kentucky in 1985.”

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The plot details are pretty vague beyond this, but it has lead to everyone talking about the legendary bear. People are intrigued to know who Cocaine Bear is, and why his story is being turned into a movie. From what we have come to know, the real-life Lexington-based cocaine bear is now a popular entity of Lexington. 

The bear ate a large amount of cocaine that he found lying around in a duffle bag, and died due to overconsumption. This cache was landed by Andrew Thornton, a former Lexington narcotics officer-turned-drug smuggler. He was carrying $15 million worth of cocaine when he died plummeting out of an airplane over Knoxville in September 1985. The 175-pound bear happened to chance upon 40 containers of cocaine, leading to his death. 

The bear’s body was found several months after Thornton’s by a hunter in the Chattahoochee National Forest in Georgia. “Its stomach was literally packed to the brim with cocaine,” the official who conducted the bear’s autopsy revealed in a statement. The bear is also famously known as Pablo Escobear, and his face is used on several products, like mugs, etc. 

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Talking about the film, Cocaine Bear movie will be written by Jimmy Warden, and will be produced by Phil Lord and Chris Miller along with Banks and Max Handelman’s Brownstone Productions. The shooting for the film is likely to begin this summer.