Names and faces

LITTLE ROCK — Filmmaker John Woo is the first celebrity to join the cast of the second major film in the leading Chinese state film studio’s campaign to overhaul the propaganda genre with a heavy dose of star power. Last year, China Film Group Corp. released The Founding of a Republic to mark the Chinese Communist Party’s 60th year in power. Eager to beef up the party’s image among audiences who favor commercial blockbusters or Hollywood fare, the studio stacked the historical epic with Chinese-language cinema’s biggest stars. Actors such as Jackie Chan, Jet Li and Andy Lau were happy to comply even though they were given mere cameos.China Film Group is now following up the $8.8 million production with The Founding of a Party, which commemorates the 90th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party next year. The first celebrity to sign on is Mission: Impossible II director Woo, China Film Group Film Production Corp. President Zhao Haicheng said Wednesday. The veteran filmmaker will play Lin Sen, the former president of the ruling Nationalist government that the communists forced into exile in Taiwan in 1949, he said.

Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood is going to Ohio with a different kind of solo show, spotlighting his paintings and other art. The Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown said the exhibition opening is the first for Wood at a major American museum. The 63-year-old British musician plans to be at the museum for a reception on the show’s opening day, Sept. 21. Butler chief curator and director Louis Zona described Wood’s art style as lively and appealing. The museum noted that the rocker picked up a paintbrush at the age of 12, before he started playing guitar. The exhibition includes 30 of Wood’s paintings, 22 penand-pencil drawings and seven mixed-media works. The exhibit runs through Nov. 21.