Names and faces

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

— Brad Pitt is now on China’s version of Twitter, and his mysterious first Tweet has drawn thousands of comments. The actor’s verified Sina Weibo account sent the message Monday: “It is the truth. Yup, I’m coming.” That was forwarded more than 31,000 times and netted more than 14,000 comments, many expressing surprise. He gathered more than 100,000 followers. The IMDb.com movie website says Pitt was banned from ever entering China because of his role in the 1997 Seven Years in Tibet. The government was upset about the film’s portrayal of harsh Chinese rule in Tibet. His later film Mr. & Mrs. Smith with Angelina Jolie was popular in China.

On his forthcoming NBC comedy, Michael J. Fox will play a newscaster who had quit his job because of Parkinson’s Disease but returns to work in the show’s first episode because a new medical regimen has helped him control many of the disease’s symptoms. It mirrors the life of the former Family Ties and Spin City star, who said last year that drugs have helped minimize the physical tics of Parkinson’s and have enabled him to take on more acting jobs. The yet-to be-named sitcom is a key piece of NBC’s strategy to build upon a revival that has brought the network back from many years in the ratings wilderness. Shows like The Voice and Revolution have made NBC the only one of the four biggest networks to gain in viewership over last season. Though it’s not definite, NBC is penciling Fox’s comedy in for September on its low-rated Thursday schedule. In the family comedy, Fox’s character will be the father of two teenage children and a younger boy, Jennifer Salke, the network’s entertainment president, said. It will be set in New York City, and filmed there, too, she said. The real-life disease has left Fox an object of pity-fueled admiration, yet Fox “approaches his life and his work with a lot of irreverence,” Salke said. “It’s a family show that has him dealing with work and office relationships as well as dealing with kind of his public persona, which is very real,” she said. “You see, he gets a standing ovation everywhere he shows up, and the idea that he’s sort of been put up on this pedestal by the country and the world, really. He’s just a regular guy, who gets frustrated, who gets mad at having to sit at home.” Fox is meeting this week with actresses who may be cast as his wife on the show.

Front Section, Pages 2 on 01/08/2013