Tiffany Boone (Hunters) is set to star alongside Andre Holland in The Big Cigar, the Apple TV+’s limited series that chronicles the story of Black Panther leader Huey P. Newton’s escape to Cuba, from Claws showrunner Janine Sherman Barrois, Don Cheadle, Joshuah Bearman and Warner Bros. TV.
Written and executive produced by Jim Hecht (Winning Time) based on the eponymous Playboy magazine article by Bearman, the six-episode series 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.
2022 Apple TV+ Pilots & Series Orders
Boone will play Gwen Fontaine, Huey’s loyal girlfriend.
Sherman Barrois will serve as showrunner and exec produce, with Cheadle on board to direct and exec produce the first two episodes.
The series is produced by Warner Bros. Television, where Sherman Barrois and her Folding Chair Productions are under an overall deal. Hecht and Sherman Barrois executive produce, along with Bearman, Joshua Davis and Arthur Spector (Little America), through their production company Epic, a division of Vox Media Studios.
Boone stars as Roxy Jones opposite Al Pacino in Jordan Peele’s Amazon drama series Hunters, which returns for a second season later this year. She recently starred with Nicole Kidman, Melissa McCarthy and Regina Hall in limited series Nine Perfect Strangers, and co-starred in the Emmy-nominated series Little Fires Everywhere. On the feature side, she most recently appeared alongside George Clooney, Felicity Jones and David Oyelowo in The Midnight Sky. Boone is repped by ICM, Vault Entertainment and Felker, Toczek.
