Cocaine Bear: The unlikely true story of the animal that ate a duffel bag of drugs
“Investigators searching for cocaine dropped by an airborne smuggler have found a ripped-up shipment of the sweet-smelling powder and the remains of a bear that apparently died of a multimillion-dollar high.”
So began the Associated Press news agency’s 23 December 1985 report on one of the most bizarre drug-trafficking stories in history.
The 175lb black bear’s body was discovered in the mountains of the Chattahoochee National Forest, about 80 miles north of Atlanta, Georgia, and just south of the Tennessee border, near to a duffel bag and 40 packages of the drug that had been ripped open and scattered over a hillside.
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Redemption for real cocaine bear
The cocaine had fallen from the skies three months earlier courtesy of former narcotics investigator and army paratrooper turned drug smuggler Andrew Thornton; he had intended to parachute down from a small plane over Knoxville, Tennessee, but ended up falling to his death.
Wearing night vision goggles and a bulletproof vest, and carrying guns and knives, according to reports from the time, his body was found in a neighbourhood driveway. His unmanned Cessna airplane crashed into a mountain in North Carolina about an hour later.
The true story of “Pablo Escobear” now forms the basis for the start of new gore-comedy Cocaine Bear, directed by actress and filmmaker Elizabeth Banks. It is not for the faint-hearted: there’s blood and guts and very grisly ends (pun intended), and a bear snorting cocaine wherever it can get it, including severed limbs.
Banks, star of films including the Pitch Perfect and Hunger Games series, tells Sky News she went “fully down the internet rabbit hole” when she first heard the story.
“We also were able to get the police reports from when Andrew’s body was found and we use a lot of information from various sources and put it into the movie,” she says. “Everything that Andrew Thornton is wearing when his body is found on the ground, from his Gucci loafers to his bullet-proof vest, that was all written down in the police report.”
Banks received the script in April 2020, just as the world had gone into lockdown. “We were getting into this global pandemic and I felt chaos all around me and trauma everywhere. I read this script and thought, well, there’s no greater metaphor for chaos than a bear that’s high on cocaine.”
What really happened to Cocaine Bear?
Pic: Universal Studios
An official from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation told the Associated Press at the time that Thornton fell and died as he was carrying too heavy a load while parachuting.
Before they found the bear’s body, investigators had located packages of cocaine in identical duffel bags at two other locations.
Officials said the animal, which had been dead for about four weeks by the time it was discovered, ended up eating several million dollars’ worth of the drug and that its stomach was “packed to the brim”. Each of the 40 packages was believed to have contained one kilogram, and was valued at as much as $20m (£16.7m) at the time.
In Cocaine Bear, the bear’s drug-taking leads to a gory killing spree, rather than its own death; the film takes in Thornton’s jump in the first few minutes, but the vast majority of the screentime is dedicated to what might have happened had the animal survived.
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Despite the film’s comedy, the true story is tragic. Banks says her first reaction when she heard the real story was “a lot of sympathy” for the bear. “And I thought, wow, this script is actually an incredible redemption story for that bear, who was collateral damage in this crazy war on drugs.”
In real life, “Pablo Escobear” has now gained something of a cult status in certain areas in the US – and inevitably wider now following the release of the film. The animal’s body was preserved and is now on display at the Kentucky For Kentucky memorabilia and tourist store. (Thornton was from Kentucky).
“A bear dying of a drug overdose is really sad,” says writer Jimmy Warden. “This [film] was about redressing or rewriting the story for the bear, who was really the victim in this entire thing. But my objective was always just to create something that was fun. And I think that the movie definitely does it very well.”
Ray Liotta’s final performance
L-R: O’Shea Jackson Jr, Alden Ehrenreich, Ayoola Smart and Ray Liotta. Pic: Universal Studios
Cocaine Bear stars Keri Russell, O’Shea Jackson Jr, Isiah Whitlock Jr, Alden Ehrenreich, Margo Martindale and Ray Liotta, in his final film performance before his death in 2022. He plays drug kingpin Syd, who is trying to retrieve Thornton’s stash with the help of his son Eddie (Ehrenreich) and fixer Daveed (Jackson Jr).
“There’s always so much vulnerability and sweetness and heart in all of his performances, even when he’s playing these extremely menacing characters,” says Ehrenreich, known for films including Hail, Caesar! and Solo: A Star Wars Story. “That really bore itself out with him personally, he was just this very sweet man and having a lot of fun.”
“Ray is a legend in the industry,” says Jackson Jr (Just Mercy, Straight Outta Compton). “As a performer, it’s a bucket-list thing to work with greats, and to be able to work with him on one of his final projects is an honour and a blessing that I think we all will cherish.”
‘Their sphincter sucks up in their seat…’
Banks pictured on set. Pic: Universal Studios
Liotta’s drug lord is one of a motley crew of unfortunate people who find themselves roaming the national park, from tourists and a mother looking for her daughter, to police officers and park wardens.
Banks says there is a relatability to all the characters. “You know, the characters aren’t high on cocaine. They’re just trying to get through their day. And I loved that idea of telling this underdog story, with the big hook of the rampaging bear.”
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Ah, but this isn’t entirely true. We see two curious children trying it out. Did Banks think this was controversial? “The movie’s called Cocaine Bear,” she says. “It’s a big, bold, audacious idea. And so we didn’t shy away from big, bold choices.
“I think they’re actually appropriately aged to be curious about those sorts of things. I remember I was a 12 year old girl in 1985 and I skipped school. I actually don’t think… I think they spit it all out, I don’t think they’re very high on cocaine. And if they are, it’s the only way that…” We’ll leave it there; no spoilers here.
Ultimately, Banks says she wanted to make a fun film. “I really enjoyed the power that directing this kind of visceral, tense, exciting, funny movie allowed me to have with the audience. I know because I’ve seen it with people that they have to look away, you know, their sphincter sucks up in their seat. They’re a little ill. It’s an incredible sense of power that I get to take the audience on this journey, on this ride. I’m very much enjoying it.”
Cocaine Bear is out in cinemas now
Entertainment
Stalker who believed Strictly Come Dancing judge Shirley Ballas was his aunt avoids jail
A man who stalked Strictly Come Dancing judge Shirley Ballas for six years has avoided jail.
Kyle Shaw, 37, got a 20-month suspended sentence and a lifetime restraining order on contacting Ballas, her mother, niece, and former partner.
Liverpool Crown Court heard that he thought Ballas was his aunt and “began a persistent campaign of contact”.
“He believed, and it’s evident from what he was told by his mother, that her late brother was his father,” said prosecutor Nicola Daley.
The court heard there was no evidence he was wrong, and “limited evidence” he was correct.
Ms Daley said Shaw’s messages had accused Ballas of being to blame for the death of her brother, who took his own life in 2003 aged 44.
He also set up social media accounts in his name.
Shaw had pleaded guilty to stalking the former dancer between August 2017 and November 2023 at a hearing in February.
Incidents included following Ballas’s 86-year-old mother, Audrey Rich, while she was shopping and telling her she was his grandmother.
The court heard in messages to Mrs Rich, Shaw had asked: “Where’s my dad?”
Ballas was so worried for her mother’s safety that she moved her from Merseyside to London.
Kyle Shaw outside court on the day of his sentencing. Pic: PA
In October 2020, Ballas called police after Shaw messaged her and said: “Do you want me to kill myself, Shirley?”
Posts on X included one alongside an image of her home address that warned: “You ruined my life, I’ll ruin yours and everyone’s around you.”
Another referenced a book signing and said: “I can’t wait to meet you for the first time Aunty Shirley. Hopefully I can get an autograph.”
The court was told Ballas’s niece Mary Assall, former partner Daniel Taylor and colleagues from Strictly Come Dancing and ITV’s Loose Women were also sent messages.
‘I know where you live’
On one occasion in late 2023, Shaw called Mr Taylor and told him he knew where the couple lived and described Ballas’s movements.
The court heard the 64-year-old TV star become wary of socialising and stopped using public transport.
Prosecutor Ms Daley said: “She described having sleepless nights worrying about herself and her family’s safety and being particularly distressed when suggestions were made to her that she and her mother were responsible for her brother taking his own life.”
Ballas has been head judge on Strictly Come Dancing since 2017. Pic: PA
Shaw cried and wiped away tears as he was sentenced on Tuesday.
The judge said the stalking stemmed from his mother telling him Ballas’s brother, David Rich, was his biological father.
“I’m satisfied that your motive for this offending was a desire to seek contact with people you genuinely believed were your family,” he said.
“Whether in fact there’s any truth in that belief is difficult, if not impossible, to determine.”
Shaw pictured at court in February. Pic: PA
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Defence lawyer John Weate said Shaw had been told the story by his mother “in his mid to late teens” and had suffered “complex mental health issues” since he was a child.
He added: “He now accepts that Miss Ballas and her family don’t wish to have any contact with him and, importantly, he volunteered the information that he has no intention of contacting them again.”
Shaw, of Whetstone Lane in Birkenhead, also admitted possessing cannabis and was ordered to undertake a rehab programme.
Gary Glitter has been made bankrupt after failing to pay more than £500,000 in damages to a woman he abused when she was 12 years old.
She sued the disgraced singer, whose real name is Paul Gadd, after he was found guilty of attacking her and two other schoolgirls between 1975 and 1980.
Glitter, 80, was jailed for 16 years in 2015 and released in 2023 but was recalled to prison less than six weeks later after breaching his parole conditions.
A judge awarded the woman £508,800, including £381,000 in lost earnings and £7,800 for future therapy and treatment, saying she was subjected to abuse “of the most serious kind”.
The court heard she had not worked for decades due to the trauma of being repeatedly raped and “humiliated” by the singer.
Glitter was jailed for 16 years in 2015. Pic: Met Police/PA
Glitter was made bankrupt last month at the County Court at Torquay and Newton Abbot, in Devon – the county where he is reportedly serving his sentence in Channings Wood prison, in Newton Abbot.
Richard Scorer, head of abuse law at Slater and Gordon, the law firm representing the woman, said: “We confirm that Gadd has been made bankrupt following our client’s application.
“As he has done throughout, Gadd has refused to cooperate with the process and continues to treat his victims with contempt.
“We hope and trust that the parole board will take his behaviour into account in any future parole applications, as it clearly demonstrates that he has never changed, shows no remorse and remains a serious risk to the public.”
Glitter was first jailed for four months in 1999 after he admitted possessing around 4,000 indecent images of children.
He was expelled from Cambodia in 2002, and in March 2006 was convicted of sexually abusing two girls, aged 10 and 11, in Vietnam where he spent two-and-a-half years in prison.
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His sentence for the 2016 convictions expires in February 2031.
Glitter was automatically released from HMP The Verne, a low-security prison in Portland, Dorset, in February 2023 after serving half of his fixed-term determinate sentence.
But he was back behind bars weeks later after reportedly trying to access the dark web and images of children.
Paul Mescal and Barry Keoghan will play Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr in the upcoming Beatles films – with a Stranger Things star also portraying one of the Fab Four.
The two Irish actors will be joined by London-born performers Harris Dickinson as John Lennon, and Joseph Quinn as George Harrison.
The cast for the Sam Mendes project was revealed at the CinemaCon event in Las Vegas, with all four appearing on stage and taking a bow together in Beatles style.
(L-R) Mescal, Quinn, Keoghan and Dickinson appeared together at the announcement. Pic: Reuters
Mendes is making four interconnected films – one from the perspective of each of the band members – and they are all set to be released “in proximity” to each other in April 2028.
It marks the first time The Beatles and the families of John Lennon and George Harrison have granted full life story and music rights for a scripted film.
Playing McCartney is another big role for 29-year-old Mescal, who recently starred in the Gladiator sequel and was nominated for an Oscar in 2023 for Aftersun.
Barry Keoghan – who also got an Oscar nod for The Banshees of Inisherin – will portray the other surviving Beatles member, Ringo Starr.
Pic: PA
Meanwhile, Stranger Things star Joseph Quinn, who appeared with long hair as Eddie Munson in the fourth series, takes up the role of George Harrison.
Harris Dickinson has the challenge of stepping into the shoes of perhaps the most famous Beatle, John Lennon.
The 28-year-old recently starred in erotic thriller Babygirl with Nicole Kidman and also appeared in satire Triangle of Sadness.
Mendes told the industry audience at CinemaCon there is “still plenty to explore” despite the Beatles’ rise having being well chronicled.
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The Oscar-winning British director is known for films including American Beauty, First World War movie 1917, and Bond outings Skyfall and Spectre.
Sony Pictures boss Tom Rothman said the close release of all four films in three years’ time will be “the first bingeable theatrical experience”.
“We are going to dominate the culture that month,” he added.
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