Fifty years ago, talks began for a movie inspired by real Hollywood bigwigs who helped a leader of the Black Panthers flee America. It never got made…until now. The Big Cigar, a series debuting on Apple TV+ on May 17, is based on Hollywood producer Bert Schneider’s effort to get the black power group’s co-founder Huey Newton to Cuba, running the operation like a fake Hollywood movie production he called The Big Cigar. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] The six-episode series follows Newton (André Holland) as he tests Schneider (Alessandro Nivola) to make sure he can be trusted before trusting him with his life.