16 November 2016
Newsdesk
Jim Parsons will star in and co-produce a movie about the Internet phenomenon known as Brother Orange.
The Big Bang Theory star will play BuzzFeed senior editor Matt Stopera in the film, which is a co-production between Warner Bros. and BuzzFeed films, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The story will cover the aftermath of Stopera’s iPhone being stolen at a New York bar in 2014. Unbeknownst to him, the phone made its way to China and a year later pictures began appearing on his photo stream, including a number of snaps of a man standing in front of an orange tree, who was dubbed Brother Orange.
Stopera did a series of stories about the incident, and the story went viral in China, exploding on the country's social media platform Weibo with more than 20 million views in 24 hours and over 100 million total shares.
After a widespread Internet search took place, Li Hongjun stepped forward and identified himself as the man from the photos. By the time he revealed himself in early 2015, both Stopera and Li had become minor celebrities in China.
The months following the identification, Stopera visited Li in China, accompanied by a media frenzy. After Stopera's visit, Brother Orange returned the favour a month later by visiting Stopera in the United States, where he experienced Las Vegas and New York. The two also appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, where the story was introduced to a larger American audience.
Stopera and his roommate, Broad City actress Ilana Glazer, are executive producing the film with Ellen DeGeneres while the lead producers are Parsons, his partner Todd Spiewak, as well as Michael Shamberg and Matthew Henick.
Parsons is now in his 10th season on CBS' Big Bang Theory, playing lovable geek Sheldon, a role that has garnered him four Emmy wins. He will next appear in the Fox 2000 drama Hidden Figures alongside Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer and Kevin Costner, which opens in theatres on Christmas Day.
A release date for Brother Orange has not yet been announced.
