A film called Cocaine Bear is coming to the big screen next February, immediately attracting attention with little more than a title to go off of. The film shocks audiences twice in a single poster by also promising that the events are based on a true story. Surprisingly, there's a history behind Cocaine Bear.

Elizabeth Banks has enjoyed a long and interesting career as an actress over the last two decades, racking up over 250 credits. In 2015, she made her feature directorial debut with Pitch Perfect 2, followed by the 2019 reboot of Charlie's Angels. She's had a film entitled The Invisible Woman in the works for three years now, but her third project as director is a much more bombastic film.

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Andrew C. Thornton II was born in Kentucky in 1944. His parents owned a horse farm, and he grew up training racehorses with his dad. He attended military school, joined the ROTC, and dropped out of college after one semester to join the army. Thornton served for four years as a paratrooper, professionally jumping out of planes for a living. He fought in the 1965 American invasion of the Dominican Republic, where he received a Purple Heart. Thornton left the army shortly after his injury and returned to school. He earned a degree in law enforcement in 1971 and swiftly found a job in the Lexington Police Department. He worked as a narcotics officer and frequently partnered with the local DEA. During his tenure as a cop, Thornton began the classic side hustle of drug smuggling.

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Thornton quit the police department in 1977, and only four years later, he was arrested in a massive weapons theft scandal. He was accused of attempting to smuggle more than 1000 pounds of weed into the United States, fled capture, and was arrested in North Carolina. Thornton pled out of these charges, served six months in prison, and lost his license to practice law. Not much is known about the next few years of Thornton's life, but quite a lot is known about his death. In 1985, Thornton and his partner were flying home from Colombia in a Cessna 404. They had just dumped a fair amount of cocaine in Blairsville, Georgia and they needed to bail out of the auto-piloted plane. Thornton, a former paratrooper, became tangled in his chute and died immediately on impact with a local man's driveway. He died with roughly $15 million worth of cocaine in a duffel bag on his person.

Three months later, authorities found a dead black bear in the nearby Chattahoochee National Forest. They discovered that the bear had overdosed on cocaine, apparently having discovered Thornton's dead drop and opening over 40 plastic containers. The period between the bear discovering Thornton's stash and dying of a tragic overdose makes up the setting for the upcoming film. After the discovery of the bear, the story became something of a legend. Not in Georgia or Tennessee, where the events actually occurred, but in Thornton's home state of Kentucky. Sick of the state's lackluster reputation, Kentucky natives Whit Hiler and Griffin VanMeter popularized the story. The bear's corpse, startlingly well-maintained despite its tragic death, had something of a journey itself.

The dead Cocaine Bear was initially stuffed by the park that found it. It was put on display as a natural attraction, but no mention was made of the substance that killed it. Some years later, it must have been used as security for a loan, as it came into the possession of a Nashville pawnbroker. It later became the property of beloved Texas country star Waylon Jennings. Jennings gave it to a Vegas high-roller who apparently knew Thornton back in the day. Both men died in the early 2000s, and the stuffed Cocaine Bear was purchased by a man from Reno. When that man died, his widow wasn't sure what to do with the post-overdose body of a wild animal. Enter Hiler and VanMeter, who made the case that the bear should be put up for display somewhere. She agreed, and the two men put the bear where he stands today. Fans can go visit the Cocaine Bear today at the Kentucky for Kentucky Fun Mall in Lexington.

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The real Cocaine Bear suffered a slow death at the hands of the chemical that made it famous, but Elizabeth Banks and screenwriter Jimmy Warden are going to have a great time with the idea. Cocaine Bear takes the basic premise of a bear that's been exposed to a powerful stimulant and runs with it, creating a fascinating comedy horror adventure. The death of Andrew Thornton II and the resulting drugged-up animal is the kind of story that sounds a lot more fun than they are. Thankfully, the film is on its way to bring everyone the version of this story they deserve.

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