What were your first thoughts when you read the script for Cocaine Bear?
I fell in love with the characters. I’m an actor first, and so I always read for the character journey and who they are. They were really quirky and in over their heads and nobody knew what to do with the bear, and I just thought it seemed like such a fun romp. So it was really the tone that stuck out to me right away. It felt like a Coen Brothers movie or a Quentin Tarantino movie, but with a bear. I don’t know how else to explain it.
What attracts you to a project as a director vs. an actor?
I can do an acting job in a couple of months. A directing gig, I mean I’ve been working on the film for, it will be nearly three years. So when it comes to directing, I have to commit my entire life to the project. I have to commit not just time and energy, but so much of my focus has to go into it. So it has to be a story that I am just dying to tell. And I feel that way about most of my acting work as well. I like acting, it’s way more fun and way less pressure than directing. So I have an easier time saying yes to acting gigs than I do directing. Directing requires my whole life to come to a standstill, and so it’s gotta be something that I feel can really stand out and entertain a crowd. I have made three films now, and I just want to keep adding to the legacy of what I can put out into the world.
Cocaine Bear is an outrageously fun story. What was important to you in bringing it to life?
Well the bear is number one. I have been quoted as saying this felt like it could be a career ender, that it could be risky for me, but what I meant by that is there is a bear at the heart of this story that I have no control over. I can bring actors to set and I can pick a great location and I can have an amazing crew, but I really had to trust Wētā to build a bear that was so credible that you would never be taken out of the movie by it. I’m so proud of the work that came out of that, and I love our Bear. But that’s what scared me the most about making the film.
