'Cocaine Bear' helps Elizabeth Banks present the Oscar for best visual effects
Elizabeth Banks had an unusual co-presenter for the best visual effects Oscar -- "Cocaine Bear," her co-star in the new comedic thriller of the same name.
But unlike the movie, which featured an entirely CGI bear, this was clearly some guy in a suit.
"Without visual effects, this is what the bear would look like," Banks said, gesturing to the costumed bear that towered over her. "It's terrifying."
The bear gestured to members of the audience, then at himself, then back to the audience.
"Are you trying to score right now?" Banks asked. "You need to wait until the afterparty like everybody else."
"Cocaine Bear" -- the movie -- is very, very loosely based on a true story.
"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," the Associated Press reported in December 1985.
Police found a sad scene. A 175-lb. black bear dead near a duffle bag and some $2 million worth of cocaine that had been opened and scattered over a hillside. The parachutist, a former Kentucky narcotics investigator, had fallen to his death in a backyard in Knoxville, Tennessee. His unmanned airplane crashed into a North Carolina mountain. Back in Georgia, the bear, examiners said, had overdosed.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
