The Falcon and the Winter Soldier star Olli Haaskivi has been officially announced as the latest name to join the cast of The Big Cigar on Apple TV+. Haaskivi will be joining regular cast members André Holland and Alessandro Nivola for the upcoming limited comedy-drama series on Apple TV+.
The Big Cigar, which was first announced by Apple TV in April, borrows its inspiration from a 2012 Playboy article by Joshua Bearman of the same name. Bearman tells the “almost-too-good-to-be-true” story of how a leader of the Black Panther political movement, Huey P. Newton, contacted his friend Bert Schneider – who also happens to be the Hollywood producer behind The Monkees and Easy Rider – for help escaping to Cuba in the 1970s. The Apple TV+ series will tell the story of Newton’s (Holland) and Schneider’s (Nivola) desperate attempt to escape the United States as the pair is relentlessly hunted by the FBI.
Who Will Olli Haaskivi Be in ‘The Big Cigar’?
Olli Haaskivi will be joining The Big Cigar as Arthur “Artie” A. Ross, the real-life Hollywood screenwriter behind well-known works like Creature From the Black Lagoon (1954) and The Great Race (1965). According to Deadline, Ross was blacklisted in Hollywood with the onset of the Red Scare, which began in the 1950s and 60s; his role in Newton and Schneider’s escape plan is currently unknown, as is his specific role in The Big Cigar Apple TV+.
The Big Cigar is written by Jim Hecht (Ice Age: The Meltdown) and Joshua Bearman, the author of the original Playboy article. NAACP Image Award Winner Janine Sherman Barrois (Criminal Minds) will serve as showrunner alongside director Don Cheadle (House of Lies); the series will be produced under Barrois’ Folding Chair Productions as part of an overall deal with Warner Brothers Television.
The Big Cigar, starring Olli Haaskivi, is currently slated for release via Universal in July 2023.
