.png)
Apple TV+ has ordered a miniseries based on an account of the life of Huey P. Newton, leader and co-founder of the Black Panther Party. The series, titled, The Big Cigar will focus on how Newton escaped to Cuba after he became the subject of a manhunt in relation to the murder of Kathleen Smith, an underage sex worker Newton allegedly shot in 1974. According to the update released by Apple,
The Big Cigar tells the extraordinary, hilarious, almost-too-good-to-be-true story of how Newton relied on his best friend, Bert Schneider, the Hollywood producer behind “Easy Rider,” to elude a nationwide manhunt and escape to Cuba while being pursued into exile by the FBI.
The Big Cigar will be a limited series comprising six episodes. The studio has roped in Don Cheadle, famous for films like Hotel Rwanda, Oceans’ Trilogy, and for playing James ‘Rhody’ Rhodes/War Machine in Marvel Cinematic Universe, to direct and executive produce the first two episodes. Cheadle has previously directed episodes of the series House of Lies. Cheadle will be joining as an exec producer with Janine Sherman Barrois (Criminal Minds, The King of Napa).
The Big Cigar Bringing In Moonlight Star
André Holland, famous for his portrayal of the adult version of Kevin in Best Picture winner Moonlight is in talks to star in the series. André has previously portrayed another activist Andrew Young in the 2014 film Selma.
The series’ screenplay will be penned by Jim Hecht, which will be adapted from the 2013 Playboy article “The Big Cigar: How a Hollywood producer smuggled Huey Newton to Cuba”, which was written by Joshua Bearman. Bearman is also known for writing the 2007 Wired article, “Escape from Tehran: How the CIA Used a Fake Sci-Fi Flick to Rescue Americans from Iran”. That article became the basis of the screenplay of the 2012 Best Picture winner film, Argo, which won Chris Terrio the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Both Bearman and Hecht will also serve as executive producers for the show.
The limited series will also become a collaboration between Apple TV+ and Warner Bros. Television, who have also worked together for the Emmy Award-winning show, Ted Lasso, and will soon work again on Shrinking starring Harrison Ford and Jason Segel.
This is the third film in recent times to bring leaders from the Black Panther Party in limelight through their live-action portrayals. Earlier in 2020, Aaron Sorkin’s The Trial of Chicago 7 featured Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as party co-founder Bobby Seale. The same year, Shaka King’s Judas and the Black Messiah featured the story of Fred Hampton, Black Panther’s Chicago Chapter’s leader, focusing on events leading up to his assassination. Actor Daniel Kaluuya, who played Hampton, won Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Apple has not revealed the streaming release date for The Big Cigar, but given the recent backing from two major studios and a director to helm the project, the series seems to be in pre-production and may soon finalize the cast.
