Cocaine Bear Director Elizabeth Banks ‘Loved’ Working On James Gunn’s Horror Movie Slither

Elizabeth Banks explained that she loved making “Slither,” but hasn’t always gotten the chance to make good, gory fun:

“I loved making ‘Slither’ and I’ve always wanted to make more of those kinds of movies. And a part of me thought that this was a real opportunity to show that women, especially, are interested in this type of stuff. I think there’s a mythology out there that women don’t want to necessarily do a lot of CGI, or don’t work in horror. I found [‘Candy Land’] and ‘Nanny,’ and a couple of these really cool movies were breaking down those ideas, and this was a chance for me to do the same thing. Plus I was like, ‘Nobody will believe this is an Elizabeth Banks movie.'”

“Candy Land” is a 2023 horror film about an abandoned cult member who joins a crew of sex workers, while 2022’s “Nanny” mixes West African folklore with a story of survival as an immigrant in the U.S., but both are seriously scary movies from a feminine perspective. Banks previously directed “Pitch Perfect 2” and “Charlie’s Angels,” but it looks like “Cocaine Bear” might finally be the right project for Banks’ directorial talents and expertise. After all, the movie is about a bear who gets into a whole lot of cocaine and goes on a rampage, complete with all of the guts and gore that Banks appreciated back in her “Slither” days. Not only that, but it allowed her to pay tribute to the creatives who inspired her to make movies in the first place.