Mysterious 'Cocaine Bear' Steals Show at the Oscars and Twitter Is Busy Guessing Who's Inside the Bear Suit

The seemingly 'we know who is it' moment occurred during the 2023 Oscars night. The Hunger Games star, Elizabeth Banks who directed the recent B-horror box office hit Cocaine Bear, appeared on stage alongside a mysterious "someone" inside a bear costume. And kept people on their feet—making guesses about the bear's true identity. 

Banks arrived on stage to present an award for Best Visual Effects, nearly tripped and then, joked that the bear had made her stumble. Banks looked like she was battling cold and proceeded to joke about the reality versus visual effects. Banks joked, "This is what the bear would look like. It’s terrifying." The mystery figure flexed its skills on stage, as it punched and kicked in the air. "Stop it. No director wants to deal with this. OK, what are you doing?" she asked her 'co-presenter' per The Hollywood Reporter.

The weird duo also dragged Tom Cruise and Sigourney Weaver into the cringe-worthy bit. The bear then targeted Malala Yousafzai. He went to her seat to pester the activist, and to her credit, she handled it well enough. Banks added, "Are you trying to score right now? You need to wait till the after-party like everybody else. The coke is not real. It’s visual effects, right? It’s all of it," she referenced her movie Cocaine Bear.

All the while the bear's true identity was kept hidden and people claimed to have figured out the secret already. People went into a frenzy for the night, coming up with their own predictions. And we agree, it was one of the real conundrums of the prestigious award night. Twitterati was also preoccupied with the guessing game. A Twitter user, @cameronscheetz, wrote, "That’s Jessica Chastain in the Cocaine Bear costume FYI." @davidehrlich, predicted, "There was genuinely a millisecond there where I thought Matt Damon might be in the cocaine bear." @Betette revealed, "Gary Oldman in that bear costume, just absolutely killing it." A Twitter user, @jessicagolds, guessed, "That better be Matthew Rhys in there." 

Banks, 49, almost fell on the hem of her dress while getting on stage. She also apologized for her scratchy voice as she had to shout to announce the names of the nominees, while her voice faltered, per People. Resorting to humor, she quipped, "Visual effects — sorry my voice — can enhance any story and are an incredible tool for filmmakers like me. Without visual effects, Cocaine Bear would have been some actor in a bear suit, probably on cocaine."

And every time she referred to the bear, it was like, It's got to be The Revenant. The mention of the 2015 Leonardo DiCaprio movie, she said, "The first couple kills have to be that gnarly so that you understand that everyone should be afraid of the bear. That was a big part of it for me."

The bear's identity remained undisclosed for the night as Banks revealed nothing. Some assumptions made sense, and some did not. Although we still don't know who was behind the furry suit, everyone sure had a good time guessing who the bear was and whether it had caused Banks to lose her voice.