Apple TV+ has released the trailer for The Big Cigar series about Huey P. Newton’s escape to Cuba with help from Hollywood director Bert Schneider.  The story is based on an article Joshuah Bearman wrote for Playboy Magazine about Newton fleeing to Cuba in 1974 after facing murder charges in California. Newton had been arrested for the fatal shooting of a young Black prostitute and after posting bond fled to Cuba where he lived for three years. Schneider had created a fake movie to help Newton’s plan to the leave the country but the feature was never completed. The Big Cigar is mostly true and reenacts some the events that happened with Schneider’s potential scheme. Don Cheadle has directed two of the six episodes for the show that premieres on May 17th. André Holland portrays Newton with a cast including Glynn Turman, Moses Ingram, Rebecca Dalton, Jordane Christie, Tiffany Boone, Olli Haaskivi, Marc Menchaca, P.J. Byrne and Alessandro Nivola. Joshuah Bearman, Jim Hecht and Janine Sherman Barrois are executive producers. 

The Big Cigar is a limited drama series on AppleTV+ about Black Panther founder Huey P. Newton’s escape to Cuba. The story is based on an article Joshuah Bearman who is also the executive producer wrote about Newton for Playboy Magazine. In 1974, Newton was accused of shooting a 17-year-old prostitute and pistol-whipping his tailor and he fled to Cuba with Schneider’s help. Schneider was a famous name in Hollywood during the ’60s because the production company co-founded with Bob Rafaelson produced The Monkees TV show and the very successful 1969 counterculture film Easy Rider. According to Bearman’s article, Schneider wrote The Cigar to help with Newton’s escape but never filmed it. 

André Holland stars as Newton in the series that premieres on May 17th and will stream every Friday until June 14th. The ensemble cast includes Glynn Turman, Alessandro Nivola, Tiffany Boone, P. J. Byrne, Marc Menchaca, Moses Ingram, Rebecca Dalton, Olli Haaskivi and Jordane Christie. Actor, producer and director Don Cheadle will direct and executive produce the first two episodes. 

Ryan Coogler and Charles D. King’s Marco production company are set to produce a new film about late Black Panther Party leader Fred Hampton. The Black Panther director and Marco, which got behind Mudbound, Fences and Roman J. Israel, Esq., will produce Jesus Was My Homeboy for Warner Brothers. Daniel Kuluuya is being considered for the role of Hampton and Lakeith Stanfield is in talks to play William O’Neal, the man who betrayed Hampton to the Chicago Police Department and FBI. The young leader was 21-years old when he was fatally shot by the authorities for his work with the party. Shaka King is the director and he co-wrote the script with Will Berson.

The story will be told from the viewpoint of O’Neal, his motive for infiltrating the Black Panther Party and how the FBI helped him. Zinzi Coogler, Sev Ohanian, Poppy Hanks and Macro’s Kim Roth will executive produce Jesus Was My Homeboy.  Shaka King, The Lucas Bros. and Will Berson wrote the screenplay. 

The Black Panther Party came under the scrutiny of FBI director J. Edgar Hoover who did not want an effective Black Power Movement in the United States. Hampton’s charisma and ability to organize people from diverse backgrounds were seen as a threat to the establishment. Hampton and BPP member Mark Clark were killed in 1969 during an arms raid conducted by a tactical unit of the Cook County’s State Attorney’s Office with the Chicago Police and the FBI. Their families filed a civil suit and received a $1.85 million dollar settlement in 1982 from the City of Chicago, Cook County and the federal government. William O’Neal confessed to his involvement in the conspiracy and committed suicide in 1990. 

The first film about the late leader was the 1971 documentary The Murder Of Fred Hampton which used footage of his apartment recorded by a videographer the night he was killed. 

Antoine Fuqua is working on a film about the life of Fred Hampton who led the Chicago chapter of the Black Panther Party was the national deputy chairman. Hampton was fatally shot by the Chicago Police and FBI while sleeping in his bed during a raid in 1969. The shooting was ruled as a justifiable homicide and the family won a civil lawsuit in 1982 for $1.85 million. Fuqua has wanted to make a film about Hampton for a long time and the script written by Chris Smith is based on Jeffrey Haas’ book The Assassination Of Fred Hampton: How The FBI And Chicago Police Murdered A Black Panther.

The film is part of a first-look deal Fuqua has with Sony Pictures and The Equalizer 2 is the first project. Denzel Washington will join him again in the action movie reboot that will be released September 14th, 2018.