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
The Stone Roses bassist Gary “Mani” Mounfield has died at the age of 63, his family has said.
Mani’s brother, Greg, said in a post on Facebook: “It is with the heaviest of hearts that I have to announce the sad passing of my brother.”
“RIP RKID,” he added.
Gary “Mani” Mounfield and his wife Imelda at the world premiere of “The Stone Roses : Made Of Stone” in 2013. Pic: Reuters
Formed in 1983, The Stone Roses were a mainstay of the “Madchester” scene.
Mani joined the band in 1987 and formed part of its classic line-up alongside singer Ian Brown, guitarist John Squire and drummer Alan ‘Reni’ Wren. He remained with the group until their split in 1996.
Mani’s death comes two years after that of his wife, Imelda Mounfield, who was diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer in November 2020. The couple welcomed twin boys in 2012.
Ian Brown, left, with Mani, right, performing on stage during their 2012 reunion concerts in Manchester. Pic: Reuters
The Stone Roses frontman Brown shared a tribute online, writing: “REST IN PEACE MANi X.”
Oasis singer Liam Gallagher said he was “in total shock and absolutely devastated”, describing the bassist as “my hero”.
“RIP Mani – my heartfelt condolences to his twin boys and all of his family,” wrote the Happy Mondays’ Shaun Ryder, whose bandmate Rowetta added: “Back with your Imelda, Mani. Going to miss you so much. All my love to the boys, the family & all those who knew & loved him.”
The Charlatans frontman, Tim Burgess, shared a photo of himself with Mani, writing alongside it: “I shared this photo a week or so ago on Mani’s birthday.
“It never failed to bring a smile to my face – and that was exactly the same for the man himself.
“One of the absolute best in every way – such a beautiful friend.”
Echo & the Bunnymen vocalist Ian McCulloch said Mani was someone “who I have always loved and always will love, deeply and forever. Like a brother”.
He continued: “I am in shock to be honest. Please tell me I’m just having a bad, bad dream. My thoughts and feelings and Mani. Love to all of his family from me”.
Pic: Robert Marquardt/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock
The “Madchester” bands were known for blending indie with acid house, psychedelia, and pop.
The Stone Roses’ eponymous debut album of 1989 was a huge success, and was named the second greatest album of all time in a “Music of the Millennium” poll conducted by HMV, Channel 4, The Guardian, and Classic FM.
The novel has survived the industrial revolution, radio, television, and the internet. Now it’s facing artificial intelligence – and novelists are worried.
Half (51%) fear that they will be replaced by AI entirely, according to a new survey, even though for the most part they don’t use the technology themselves.
More immediately, 85% say they think their future income will be negatively impacted by AI, and 39% claim their finances have already taken a hit.
Tracy Chevalier, the bestselling author of Girl With A Pearl Earring and The Glassmaker, shares that concern.
“I worry that a book industry driven mainly by profit will be tempted to use AI more and more to generate books,” she said in response to the survey.
“If it is cheaper to produce novels using AI (no advance or royalties to pay to authors, quicker production, retainment of copyright), publishers will almost inevitably choose to publish them.
“And if they are priced cheaper than ‘human made’ books, readers are likely to buy them, the way we buy machine-made jumpers rather than the more expensive hand-knitted ones.”
Chevalier, author of the book Girl With A Pearl Earring, with the painting of the same name. Pic: AP
Why authors are so worried
The University of Cambridge’s Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy asked 258 published novelists and 74 industry insiders how AI is viewed and used in the world of British fiction.
Alongside existential fears about the wholesale replacement of the novel, many authors reported a loss of income from AI, which they attributed to “competition from AI-generated books and the loss of jobs which provide supplementary streams of income, such as copywriting”.
Some respondents reported finding “rip-off AI-generated imitations” of their own books, as well books “written under their name which they haven’t produced”.
Last year, the Authors Guild warned that “the growing access to AI is driving a new surge of low-quality sham ‘books’ on Amazon”, which has limited the number of publications per day on its Kindle self-publishing platform to combat the influx of AI-generated books.
The median income for a novelist is currently £7,000 and many make ends meet by doing related work, such as audiobook narration, copywriting or ghost-writing.
Read more: The author embracing AI to help write novels
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Could the AI bubble burst?
These tasks, authors feared, were already being supplanted by AI, although little evidence was provided for this claim, which was not possible to verify independently.
Copyright was also a big concern, with 59% of novelists reporting that they knew their work had been used to train AI models.
Of these, 99% said they did not give permission and 100% said they were not remunerated for this use.
Earlier this year, AI firm Anthropic agreed to pay authors $1.5bn (£1.2bn) to settle a lawsuit which claimed the company stole their work.
The judge in the US court case ruled that Anthropic had downloaded more than seven million digital copies of books it “knew had been pirated” and ordered the firm to pay authors compensation.
However, the judge sided with Anthropic over the question of copyright, saying that the AI model was doing something akin to when a human reads a book to inspire new work, rather than simply copying.
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Most novelists – 67% – never used it for creative work, although a few said they found it very useful for speeding up drafting or editing.
One case study featured in the report is Lizbeth Crawford, a novelist in multiple genres, including fantasy and romance. She describes working with AI as a writing partner, using it to spot plot holes and trim adjectives.
“Lizbeth used to write about one novel per year, but now she can do three per year, and her target is five,” notes the author of the report, Dr Clementine Collett.
Is there a role for government?
Despite this, the report’s foreword urges the government to slow down the spread of AI by strengthening copyright law to protect authors and other creatives.
The government has proposed making an exception to UK copyright law for “text and data mining”, which might make authors and other copyright holders opt out to stop their work being used to train AI models.
“That approach prioritises access to data for the world’s technology companies at the cost to the UK’s own creative industries,” writes Professor Gina Neff, executive director of the Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy.
“It is both bad economics and a betrayal of the very cultural assets of British soft power.”
A government spokesperson said: “Throughout this process we have, and always will, put the interests of the UK’s citizens and businesses first.
“We’ve always been clear on the need to work with both the creative industries and AI sector to drive AI innovation and ensure robust protections for creators.
“We are bringing together both British and global companies, alongside voices beyond the AI and creative sectors, to ensure we can capture the broadest possible range of expert views as we consider next steps.”
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