The Big Cigar
The Big Cigar is a 2024 biographical drama television miniseries developed by Jim Hecht, based on the 2012 Playboy article of the same name by Joshuah Bearman. Following the events of the Black Panther Party in 1970s, the series is about party founder Huey P. Newton escaping from the Federal Bureau of Investigation to Cuba with the help of Bert Schneider for an elaborate plan.
The miniseries stars André Holland, Alessandro Nivola, Tiffany Boone, P. J. Byrne, and Marc Menchaca. The Big Cigar premiered its first two episodes on Apple TV+ on May 17, 2024, and received generally positive reviews from critics. The series concluded on June 14, 2024.
Premise
Set in 1974, the series chronicles the manhunt for Huey P. Newton, the founder of the Black Panther Party, who seeks the help of film producer Bert Schneider as he tries to escape to Cuba.Cast
Main
- André Holland as Huey P. Newton: The main protagonist, who is the founder of The Black Panther Party.
- Alessandro Nivola as Bert Schneider: The film and television producer. He and his business partner Steve Blauner hid Newton due to him being convicted of murder and assault.
- Tiffany Boone as Gwen Fontaine: The wife of Huey P. Newton who is a party member.
- P. J. Byrne as Stephen Blauner: Bert's business partner and childhood friend. He and Bert helped and collaborated with Huey on a series of wild schemes.
- Marc Menchaca as Sydney Clark: An FBI agent dressed as a hippie who never gives up interrogating the organization, family members and anybody related to Huey.
Recurring
- Thamela Mpumlwana as Lil Bobby Hutton
- Moses Ingram as Teressa Dixon: A young member of the party who proves to be resourceful, even when she persuades Huey to give Bert his money.
- Jaime Ray Newman as Roz Torrance
- Jordane Christie as Bobby Seale: A political activist and author who was one of the co-founders of the Black Panther Party along with Newton.
- Inny Clemons as Richard Pryor
- Olli Haaskivi as Arthur A. Ross: A film and screenwriter who works for Bert.
- Noah Emmerich as Stanley Schneider: Bert's brother.
- James Cade as Agent Anderson
Guest
- Glynn Turman as Walter Newton: Huey P. Newton's father
- Brenton Allen as Eldridge Cleaver: A writer and political activist who an early leader of the Black Panther Party.
- Michael Mașini as Gregory Lipton:
- Chris Brochu as Dennis Hopper
- Rebecca Dalton as Jessica
- John Doman as Abe Schneider: Bert's father.
- Owen Roth as Jack Nicholson
- Manuel Rodriguez Saenz as Tajo
- Hudson Wurster as Michael Torrance
- Al McFoster as Ceddy
- Taylor Jackson as Candice Bergen
- Liz Adjei as Betty Shabazz
- Brian Jansen as Warren Winkle
Episodes
Production
It was announced in December 2012 that Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris were set to direct the project for Sony Pictures, at the time developed as a film, with Joshuah Bearman, author of the source article, and Jim Hecht set to write the screenplay.The project, now a miniseries, was given a greenlight from Apple TV+ in April 2022, with André Holland cast to star. Don Cheadle was announced to be directing the first two episodes in addition to executive producing. In June, Tiffany Boone and Alessandro Nivola joined the cast, with Marc Menchaca and P. J. Byrne joining the next month. In August, Jordane Christie, Moses Ingram, Olli Haaskivi and Glynn Turman were cast to recur in the series. Additional recurring cast including Jaime Ray Newman and Noah Emmerich was announced in September.
Filming for the series began in Toronto in June 2022, as revealed by showrunner Janine Sherman Barrois. By August, production was occurring throughout Hamilton, Ontario, where Hamilton City Hall was being used as a double for San Francisco International Airport.
Reception
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds an approval rating of 72% with an average rating of 6.5/10, based on 29 reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "A magnetic performance from André Holland gets The Big Cigar close to lighting up, but a lack of narrative focus slightly dampens the spark." On Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 61 out of 100, based on 18 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".Judy Berman of Time Magazine gave a favorable review and wrote, "That Newton's wariness of mass culture frames the story from the very beginning is a sign that viewers are in for something much smarter, bolder, and more challenging than the entertainment industry's typical, sanitized take on radical politics". On Variety, author Aramide Tinubu wrote that, "André Holland is stellar as Huey P. Newton, but 'The Big Cigar' never ignites". Elisa Guimaraes of Collider gave the series 3 out of 4 stars. She praised Holland for his depiction of Huey P. Newton. The Guardian writer Ellen E. Jones also gave the show a 3 out of 5 star rating. She criticized "that Hollywood can't be trusted to tell the stories of Black radicals." Richard Roeper from the Chicago Sun-Times wrote a favorable review about the actor André Holland stating that he "does a brilliant job of capturing the complicated and charismatic Black Panthers co-founder". Nadir Samara from Screen Rant gave the series an average review of a 3 out of 5 stars, stating that the series is decent but criticized the script due to it being "all over the place, neither the story nor the performance hit their peaks". Rory Doherty from Paste Magazine wrote that the series "is a slick caper that only superficially grasps its history lesson".