Epic Magazine

It was the '60s. The era of change, war, and rebellion. Huey Newton, the co-founder of the Black Panther Party, was a revolutionary with a vision, first for self-defense against racist policing and then for an “intercommunal” world of bottom-up social reform. He wanted to change the world, and he did. Bert Schneider was a Hollywood revolutionary. With Easy Rider, he ushered in the New Hollywood era, a brief, shining decade when art and commerce were aligned on the silver screen.

Bert and Huey were best friends. Together, they wanted to change the world. And they did.

Then it was the '70s. The high-water mark of the era of idealism was in the rearview mirror. Huey and Bert had become titanic figures, but drugs, ego, and reactionary action from the government took their toll, and by 1974, Huey and Bert were on the ropes. Huey was being accused of a murder but said he was framed. After two years in solitary confinement on an overturned conviction, he refused to be mistreated in prison again.

So he showed up at Bert’s house in the Hollywood Hills in the middle of the night and said: I need to get out of here. Bert’s only question was: Where? Huey said: Cuba.

And so Bert, along with his producing partner, Huey, and the Black Panthers, planned a daring escape…

This is the story of Epic co-founder Joshuah Bearman’s article, "The Big Cigar." This weekend, that story comes to the screen in a limited series on Apple TV+. The first two episodes are out now, and then new episodes drop every Friday. Enjoy!

https://tv.apple.com/us/show/the-big-cigar/umc.cmc.5067l9fz7usyhgjfbzy6ib0na

Presenting the trailer for the limited series THE BIG CIGAR, based on an Epic true story about Black Panther Party founder Huey P. Newton's risky escape to Cuba—aided by a Hollywood producer making a fake movie. The series premieres 5/17.

The Big Cigar — Official Trailer | Apple TV+ The Black Panther Party, a fake movie production, and a nationwide manhunt. This is the true story of Huey P. Newton's escape to Cuba. The Big Cigar premiere...

Felicidades a Eugenio Derbez, who won a Diosa de Plata (Mexico's equivalent of the Golden Globes) for his leading role in Radical!

Eugenio Derbez es reconocido con una Diosa de Plata y agradece por fin ser tomado en serio Eugenio Derbez triunfa en la edición 48 de las Diosas de Plata como mejor actor por su trabajo en la cinta 'Radical', con lo que consolidó así su sueño de por...