As they say, real life is often stranger than fiction and that’s what Peacock plans to deliver through the release of their documentary Cocaine Bear: The True Story. Coinciding with the dramatized film’s streaming premiere on April 14, the story of a corrupt cop’s deadly dance with drugs, power, and money will shed a light on the reality behind the Elizabeth Banks-directed feature, Cocaine Bear. A trailer dropped today lines up the unbelievable facts of how a double-dealing police officer got himself involved in one of the most insane cases.
The real story behind the blood-thirsty bear who ingested too much blow isn’t quite as brutal and vicious as Hollywood made it out to be. In fact, much of the story lies with a Lexington, Kentucky police officer named Drew Thornton who got tangled up with a very dicey crowd. From cop to the cartel, Thornton became a master drug smuggler who would tote incredibly large amounts of white powder into the United States from South America. As folks in the trailer tell us, Thornton was a larger-than-life adrenaline junkie who set out on his harrowing missions equipped with spy gadgets like a watch that shot tear gas. But, the live-fast lifestyle came to a devastating end for Thornton when he mysteriously tumbled out of the sky and onto a driveway in Knoxville, Tennessee, his stash falling along with him, breaking open a mysterious case that stumped law enforcement.
As for the cocaine-addicted bear, while he may not have gone on a rampage, a 175-pound black bear living in the Georgia wilderness indeed took down a staggering amount of the upper, ultimately leading to his demise. The stash, dropped by Thornton on his life-ending crash, would result in the bear gobbling up somewhere around four grams of cocaine, although it could’ve been much more. Dying from his binge, the bear didn’t cause any harm to civilians and is now on display at the Kentucky for Kentucky Fun Mall in - you guessed it - Lexington, Kentucky.
What’s the Plot of Cocaine Bear?
Like the true story, Banks’ follow-up title to 2019’s Charlie’s Angels sees Thornton’s drug run gone bad with the stash flying off into the woods of Georgia. Stumbling upon the surprise nose candy, a giant black bear gobbles up the drugs and goes on a gore-filled rampage. Facing off against the bear is a cast that includes Keri Russell, Matthew Rhys, Christian Covery, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Brooklynn Prince, Alden Ehrenreich, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Margo Martindale, and the late Ray Liotta in one of his final performances.
You can see the trailer for Cocaine Bear: The True Story below and compare and contrast the story with the dramatized version when both blow onto Peacock on April 14.