The Big Cigar is a six-episode limited series that tells the incredible true story of how Easy Rider and Five Easy Pieces producers Bert Schneider (Alessandro Nivola) and Stephen Blauner (P. J. Byrne) helped Black Panthers leader Huey P. Newton escape American law enforcement for exile in Cuba – an incredible feat considering that Newton was the FBI’s most wanted man at the time.

The Apple TV+ black comedy is adapted from a 2012 Playboy magazine article by award-winning journalist Joshuah Bearman, who also wrote the source material for Argo. Please watch above and read below our interview with Alessandro Nivola and P. J. Byrne, where they discuss working with star André Holland, director Don Cheadle, and why rich white Hollywood moguls became so enamored by a Black revolutionary.

Alessandro Nivola on Huey Newton’s Counterculture Legitimacy
The Big Cigar (2024) The Big Cigar is a biographical drama about Black Panther Leader Huey P. Newton created by Janine Sherman Barrois. The six-episode series stars André Holland along with Alessandro Nivola, Tiffany Boone, and PJ Byrne and is an AppleTV+ exclusive.Release Date May 17, 2024 Cast Andre Holland , Alessandro Nivola , Tiffany Boone , PJ Byrne , Marc Menchaca , Moses Ingram , Rebecca Dalton , Olli Haaskivi , Jordane Christie , Glynn Turman Seasons 1 Writers Jim Hecht , Joshuah Bearman , Janine Sherman Barrois , Laurence Andries , Ameer Hasan , Gwendolyn M. Parker , Valerie Woods Streaming Service(s) Apple TV+ Showrunner Janine Sherman Barrois

Movieweb: Alessandro, P. J., congrats on a tremendous show. It’s fantastic. We live in a time that’s very divisive, right? And here, you have two white Hollywood producers on top of the world. Why would they support Huey P. Newton, the leader of the Black Panthers, the most wanted man in America?

P. J. Byrne: You kick us off, because it’s you that starts it.

Alessandro Nivola: Yeah, well, I think that at least as far as Bert [Schneider] was concerned, his reasons really evolved over the course of a few years, which is really documented in the series. Where in the beginning, he, I think, had just come off producing TheMonkees television series. And having discovered that band, he’d gotten really rich, but I don’t think anybody took him all that seriously. He was aware that the times were changing and that there was this kind of counterculture, youth culture, that was maybe leaving him behind. I think being associated with the Panthers and some of these, like lefty causes, gave him some sort of legitimacy. It was like a new outfit to try on, where people would take him seriously in a different way.

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Alessandro Nivola: I have all these taped interviews of him that Josh Bearman, who wrote the article that this is based on, gave me hours of taped interviews with him from the end of his life. I think he just basically fell in love with Huey Newton, like just absolute total obsession. He just thought he was the most incredible man on the planet.

Alessandro Nivola: He talked about him in terms of being the smartest man he’d ever met. He was so awestruck by how self-taught he was in prison. And that he, you know, learned to read Latin. He was really, truly awestruck by him as a man. That really took over his life. I think in those years, leading up to the events of this series, it really became a total obsession of his to try and help Huey Newton’s vision become realized.

The Magical Creative Process of The Big Cigar

MW: One of the things I thought was amazing about the show is you have André Holland as a spectacular lead. But then you have Don Cheadle, one of the most iconic Black actors of our time, directing the first two episodes and doing a remarkable job. So, for you both, talk about working with André in front of the camera, and Don behind the camera.

Alessandro Nivola: You want to…

P. J. Byrne: Yeah, I’ll go, two things. One, you have two incredible actors, right? Then you have Don, who is an actor directing an episode. When actors have directors, I’m sorry, when actors get to work with directors who are also actors, we all speak a language you’re just getting. It’s just a more seamless, similar creative process on some level so that you can get to the work of it. You can get to the art of it faster. You don’t get a lot of time when you’re there. Like we got to show up. We got to get it done, but we got to pretend.

P. J. Byrne: Then having André be present and nailing it and pure. So that’s a beautiful thing. And having Don share his vision with us so clearly and cleanly. I think that’s how great art is able to sort of thrive and flourish. So, for me, that was a special thing to do. Then to share this character with the world, to play a real guy, was always an exciting thing for me to do as well. It’s magical.

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Alessandro Nivola: André and I had little parts in Selma. And so we didn’t have any scenes together in that one. But we were around the set together. We both talked at that time about how great it would be to do something together again down the road and then suddenly, there it was. So it just was great that we’d brushed up against each other a few years back. Then we got a chance to really dig in these scenes together. It was a privilege.

The Big Cigar premieres May 17 exclusively on Apple TV+. You can watch the trailer below.