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Great Scott! Be sure to keep an eye out for a 'Back to the Future' Easter egg in 'Cocaine Bear'
Sequel idea: Doc and Marty go back in time to prevent the bear from doing cocaine.
Elizabeth Banks is still preoccupied with 1985, and it's not hard to see why. It was a landmark year for popular culture: Tears for Fears released Songs from the Big Chair, television audiences were introduced to the Thundercats, the Nintendo Entertainment System hit American storefronts, and young Marty McFly drove back to 1955 in a time-traveling DeLorean invented by Doc Brown.
As such, there was no way Banks could possibly ignore the cinematic impact of Back to the Future when she signed on to direct Cocaine Bear (out in theaters everywhere this Friday), a gonzo dark comedy set in 19...19...1985. Sitting down with Collider for an interview about the drug-fueled project inspired by a real-world incident, the filmmaker confirmed that the movie does contain a small tribute to the Twin Pines Mall (or Lone Pines Mall depending on what timeline you live in), ground zero for Doc and Marty's sci-fi saga.
"We have those kinds of nods all over, little Easter eggs throughout the movie. That was one of them," she admitted, going on to add that the movie was partly meant to serve as a love letter to her 12-year-old self. Nowhere is that more apparent than in the bedroom of Dee Dee (Brooklyn Prince), one of the human protagonists terrorized by the eponymous predator.
RELATED: 'Cocaine Bear' first reactions hail one of the best (and craziest) movies of 2023 so far
"She basically had my room," Banks continued. I had that Papasan chair that everybody had with the afghan blanket that your grandma knit for you. But more importantly, she's obsessed with Madonna, which I was also. There's a poster of Madonna on her wall wearing black overalls and a white T-shirt and the rubber bracelets, and then Brooklynn [Prince] wears that outfit throughout the movie. So it's little things like that, you know?"
In addition, the film also pays homage to Wet Hot American Summer (another '80s-set comedy and one of Banks' first feature films as an actor) with the use of "Jane" by Jefferson Starship at the very top of the runtime.
A connection to the cult classic hijinks at Camp Firewood? We were already psyched for this one, but that just sealed the deal.
Cocaine Bear will do a line and gun the speedometer to 88 miles per hour this Friday, Feb. 24. Click here to order tickets.
Looking for more creature-based thrills in the meantime? Jordan Peele's Nope is currently streaming on Peacock.
