Elizabeth Banks explains how Cocaine Bear accidentally became a reunion of The Americans cast

Cocaine Bear is an inspired-by-real-events action-horror-comedy about a wild animal who becomes downright furious after ingesting a large amount of narcotics. Also? This box office hit is a reunion of three cast members from FX's spy show The Americans, with Keri Russell playing a concerned mother looking for her child, Margo Martindale portraying a park ranger, and Russell's husband Matthew Rhys cast as a real-life drug smuggler named Andrew Thornton.

While the reunion may delight fans of the now-wrapped series, in which Russell and Rhys played sleeper spies and Martindale the couple's KGB handler, Cocaine Bear director Elizabeth Banks explains that casting the trio was all about finding the best people for the roles.

"I had worked with Margo Martindale on a TV show called Mrs. America," says the actress-filmmaker. "When I read the script [for Cocaine Bear], I immediately pictured her as Ranger Liz. She, to me, always was supposed to be Ranger Liz. I knew it would be a huge surprise to the audience, everything that character does, coming out of Margo Martindale. So she was an easy call. Keri, we wanted someone really grounded at the center of the movie, and Keri is just one of the most delightful sweetest, kindest, most talented, grounded presences that you could have. So she came to the project after a couple of phone calls, and I was thrilled."

"Matthew, I've known for 20 years, and once Keri was cast in the movie, and they were bringing their family over to Ireland, it became a big family trip for them," Banks continues. "He texted me and said, 'I've read this movie, and can I play Andrew Thornton?' The other thing is, he saw the photo of the real guy, and he sent it to me with a picture of himself with the mustache, he had a mustache going at the time, and he basically was like, look at this, I look exactly like the guy. The minute he texted me, I'm giving him this job. He's a blessing to me. But he loved the idea of being the drug runner at the beginning of the script. It was a fun way for him to have a cameo and just participate, you know. I think he also thought the movie was a wild ride and wanted to be part of it. So he basically cast himself in the movie."

Martindale describes the reunion with Russell and Rhys as "absolute bliss. Really, I love them. You know, I spent six years with them. So it was just great, just great. We spent a lot of time together."

The cast of Cocaine Bear also includes O'Shea Jackson Jr., Alden Ehrenreich, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, and the late Ray Liotta.

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