Spinning a Horror/Comedy Yarn From a True Story: Jimmy Warden Talks About ‘Cocaine Bear’
Screenwriter Jimmy Warden recently spoke with Script about writing this project on spec and how he got it made.
Movies about animals going amok have been popular for decades. In the 70s, movies like Day of the Animals (1977), Grizzly (1976), Frogs (1972), The Food of the Gods (1976), and Jaws (1975) had animals attacking humans sometimes with no motivation - a shark like Jaws is just evil incarnate - and sometimes because of an imbalance in nature caused by man. In the 80s and 90s, there were films like Venom (1981), Cujo (1983), Arachnophobia (1990), and Anaconda (1997), where nature was MAD. Nature turning on man is a timeless topic that can be endlessly explored because wild animals in general are unpredictable.
Cocaine Bear, which will be released by Universal Pictures in theaters on February 24, 2023 is a horror/comedy that is off the rails horrific while simultaneously riding the wave of the absurd. It’s a movie fueled by an angry protagonist that one can ultimately sympathize with. Helmed by director Elizabeth Banks and written by new kid on the block Jimmy Warden, it’s a fresh take on “when animals attack” and is a lean and mean hour and a half of capricious bear hijinks. The movie stars Keri Russell, O'Shea Jackson, Jr., Christian Convery, Margo Martindale, and Ray Liotta in one of his final roles.
Jimmy recently spoke with us about writing this project on spec and how he got it made.
(Includes spoilers)
You used to do P.A. work. What did you work on?
My first real job was on 21 Jump Street, which Phil and Chris directed. It was when I was first introduced to them and all these years later, they're producing Cocaine Bear.
How did you transition from production work to writing?
I did a couple of movies as a P.A. and realized it wasn't necessarily my thing. Then I got a job in the mailroom at a talent agency and made some friends there. I changed jobs and started working for a director for five years. I was writing and doing assistant work for this director while I was starting to get some momentum in my career. Eventually, I couldn't do both and quit my job. I went headfirst into the writing.
When you started writing, did you just write features or did you write television also?
Features were daunting to me at first. 120 pages felt like a lot. So, I started with writing a short film. Then I wrote a half-hour pilot. Then a sixty pager. Then eventually worked my way up to a feature-length and that's where I've stayed, for the time being.
How did Cocaine Bear come about?
I wrote it on spec. I found an article about Andrew Carter Thornton and the cocaine bear. I did a bunch of research and became obsessed with it. I thought it would be a great launching off point for an insane horror/adventure that was like a throwback to the ones we love from the 80s and 90s. I went off that. The bear ingests cocaine and doesn't die in my fantasy version of this movie. Then what happens? He goes on a rampage and kills a bunch of people.
What did you find most challenging about writing a script based on a true story?
Well, that's the trick is that I didn't stay true to the story, which I don't think everybody can do or should do. I wanted to really ground it in the true story because I thought that that's what was most interesting for me. This was a very plausible way for a bear to get into cocaine. It's not like it broke into a drug dealer's house. It landed in the bear's lap. What happened to the bear was a tragedy in terms of it dying. I didn't think that would make the best movie. It wouldn't be one I'd want to watch. So I made a movie that I would want to see and that was one where the bear doesn't die.
Have you ever had an encounter with a bear?
No, I've never had an encounter with a bear. Where my experience comes in is where in the movie, there are a bunch of people that come into the situation that have no clue as to what to do. That would be me! I just stuck myself in those situations and I would probably get killed.
Horror/comedy is difficult to write. How did you ride that fine line?
It all starts with very distinct characters. If you set up the characters correctly and give them each their individual storylines and arcs, when you put them in contact with a bear, their personalities get exaggerated. That's where a lot of the comedy comes in. The Margo Martindale character has her eyes set on one thing when the movie starts. You put her in front of the bear, and she reacts under extraordinary circumstances in a way you wouldn't think.
When you write, do you listen to music?
I listen to music in preparation. I don't usually have it on in the background when I'm writing because it distracts me. I make long playlists for how I would score the movie or where I would place the needle drops. Sometimes I write to those, sometimes I don't. It depends on the movie.
Since this movie debunked the myth of Waylon Jennings owning that bear, there was a lot of Waylon Jennings in this movie. That kind of stuff is what I was listening to. There's an Alan Jackson song called "Chattahoochee" that was so silly and fun. There was an earlier version of the spec script where Alan Jackson is getting mauled by the bear while shooting a music video of "Chattahoochee."
Have you heard about that cocaine that was found in the Pacific Ocean?
I have.
Any plans on a “Cocaine Shark”?
None yet. I just love that that is a plausible way for an animal to get into cocaine. Kicking off the movie in this way, grounding it in this way, makes it seem like it could have really happened. It's not scientists doing an experiment and the bear suddenly has superpowers.
What was it like working with Elizabeth Banks?
It was great. She brought exactly what this movie needed in terms of the comedy. She also had her head wrapped around the CG and action elements. She understood it. She was perfect for it.
What do you feel you learned from her that you might take to future projects?
I think she can run a set really well. She keeps energy up and she has fun. She's an actor herself so she works with actors really well. Just being on set watching how she makes notes or makes adjustments was nice to see.
Can you walk me through your process of selling your spec? How long did you take to write the spec? How did you get it out there?
This was an anomaly. It usually doesn't happen this quickly. I got the idea. It took me a little bit to start writing it, which is often the case when I write because I let the idea sit for a second. I didn't outline. Once I started writing, it took me about a month and a half to get it into OK shape. Then I sent it to Brian Duffield, who's a producer on the film. He also produced another movie that I directed in Vancouver this past year. He's a good friend who I've known for ages. I gave it to him for his eyes only and he gave it to Aditya, who runs Phil Lord and Christopher Miller's company. They read the script and gave it to Universal within a week or two, then we were in negotiations. Maybe it wasn't that fast but it was fast. The script didn't go out to the town or anything like that.
How did you approach writing the central character?
Of the bear? In doing the research, I discovered that Black Bears don't generally attack humans. That was a hurdle that was fairly easy to jump because we were giving cocaine to the Black Bear and then it can do God knows what because you've never seen a Black Bear on cocaine.
For me, action-wise, it was never going to go beyond what's believable. The bear doesn't fly. It just runs a little faster than it normally would. He's a little angrier. A testament to Liz and all the people at Weta FX, the bear looks great. When I had conversations with the producers early on, I wanted to make sure that the bear had a little bit of a personality. The biggest decision made early on was that the bear wasn't totally the villain. If you think about it, she's the victim.
Have you seen the taxidermized bear in Kentucky?
I have not seen it and I don't think that's the actual bear.
OK, I was wondering about that. Didn't Waylon Jennings supposedly own it at one point?
Waylon Jennings supposedly owned it at one point then sold it to this museum. But apparently, it's not the real bear. But it makes great swag. I'm from Chicago and I saw a Chicago Bear's logo, but it said "Cocaine" instead of "Chicago." I have my little nephews wearing Cocaine Bear t-shirts…!
What else do you have on your plate?
I just directed a comedic thriller that's a "violently romantic comedy." A pop star experiences a home invasion in the 1990s.
You said you did a lot of research for this film. What kind of research did you have to do?
It was mostly research on bear attacks. How they attack...when they attack when they feel threatened. I also did a lot of research on the story, like how the cocaine ended up in the Chattahoochee area. I went down this rabbit hole of consuming information about it and Andrew Carter Thornton.
He was quite a character.
He was! He was fun to research.
What do you enjoy about writing?
I enjoy having an idea, sitting down, and making it a tangible story. If you have the focus, you can have a screenplay in however many days. Anyone can do it. That is yours and only yours.
Cocaine Bear will be released by Universal Pictures in theaters on February 24, 2023.
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Sonya Alexander started off her career training to be a talent agent. She eventually realized she was meant to be on the creative end and has been writing ever since. As a freelance writer she’s written screenplays, covered film, television, music and video games and done academic writing. She’s also been a script reader for over twenty years. She's a member of the African American Film Critics Association and currently resides in Los Angeles.
