The actors in Keri Russell’s new action-horror comedy, Cocaine Bear, are all very good. It also brings together some of the actors from Star Wars, which Russell says might not have been a coincidence.
The actress walked the red carpet at the premiere of her new action horror comedy in Los Angeles on Tuesday. She spoke with ET’s Ash Crossan about the film’s connection to the Star Wars universe, especially since she, Alden Ehrenreich, and O’Shea Jackson Jr. are all in it.
“Yeah, there’s a lot!” Russell said, smiling. “Maybe that’s what [director Elizabeth Banks] was going for when she chose us! Yeah.”
Ehrenreich played a young Han Solo in the 2018 movie Solo: A Star Wars Story, while Jackson played Kawlan Roken in the Star Wars TV show Obi-Wan Kenobi. Russell, on the other hand, played Zorii Bliss, an anti-hero criminal, in the 2019 movie Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
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Russell’s character Bliss didn’t die in her part of the saga, which makes fans wonder if they’ll see her again in a later story.
When asked about the possibility, the actress played coy and left the door open by saying, “It could happen!”
Cocaine Bear is also a bit of a reunion for The Americans since it stars Russell’s real-life boyfriend and former co-star on the show, Matthew Rhys. It turns out that the famous actor got his part long after Russell had already been cast.
“We shot in Ireland because COVID numbers were low and we were getting our family ready to go there. I told him, “You have to read this script, this is crazy.” And he said, “Text Banks, ask her who’s doing that part, and text her to say I’ll do it.” So I did!” Russell remembered with happiness.
Russell said that she had never thought she would be in a movie like Cocaine Bear, but that it seemed like the right time.
“When Banks called me, it was like we were in the middle of COVID and the whole world was falling apart,” she remembered. “And all I could think was, ‘This is exactly what we should make!'”
The movie is loosely based on a real event that happened in 1985. It’s about a black bear who accidentally eats a duffle bag full of cocaine and then goes on a rampage through rural Georgia.
At the same time, a diverse group of locals, tourists, and drug smugglers must work together to try to stay alive as the number of dead rises quickly. On February 24, Cocaine Bear rips into theaters.
