On Friday, Cocaine Bear will storm its way into cinemas like an entitled stockbroker from 1980 who thinks rules do not apply to him. It is a premise and title just ridiculous enough to possibly be a hit, and, its writer has confirmed silly sequels are being floated.
Jimmy Warden, the film’s screenwriter, makes the comments in a new article published by Variety. He begins the article by saying he saw a lot of horror movies growing up in Chicago when he was far too young and the gore from these productions has influenced his creative tastes. He also says Cocaine Bear in Space would be where the franchise would end, before admitting to the writer he is kidding and adds what would come ahead are stories about people not doing what they should in incredibly horrible situations.
“For the sequels, I definitely have ideas. The bear’s not the bad guy in this. What happened is a product of circumstance and everybody else’s poor decisions. I think that is a story that we can continue to tell over and over. I’d be excited to tell it because there are some good ideas that we have for the subsequent movies. … I never thought anybody was going to make this movie.”
Warden admits later in the article he has done cocaine, adding he is not too sure his publicists will be happy with him saying that in a major trade publication. Other aspects of the film he discusses also include an apparent scene where two children dare each other to try cocaine in the woods, and, while this could be grim on paper, Warden says the moment is made with some love.
“There’s a good nature to this movie as well. I wrote those kids doing [cocaine] with love; they were just very specific and vivid in my mind. I’m 10 years younger than you are. But I still had D.A.R.E. representatives coming to my school every week and just so much anti-drug culture. So I never thought that anybody could put cocaine in the title and have it be as massive.”
Cocaine Bear is one of the final films completed by late actor Ray Liotta. It takes place in a small Georgia town, features locals and tourists joining forces to fight off the bear and is based on a real bear now on display, poetically named Pablo Eskobear, too.