Niskayuna Man’s Stolen Phone Story Becoming a Movie

When apparently bad things happen they sometimes lead us places we would never dream. From today's Times Union:

"Ellen DeGeneres is partnering with BuzzFeed and Niskayuna native Matt Stopera to make a movie about Stopera's friendship with a man who bought his stolen phone. Stopera went viral and became a full-blown celebrity in China when he reached out to a Chinese man who was using his stolen phone.
Initially appearing on BuzzFeed, an online media site specializing in quizzes, lists, news, and more recently video, Stopera's story garnered over 20 million views in 24 hours and has been shared internationally over 100 million times.
The film will share the name of Stopera's viral story, 'Brother Orange,' coming from his initial discovery of the Chinese man in iCloud photo sharing, where the man was taking selfies in front of Orange Trees"

The guy has made a friend for life and even brought him to Niskayuna to meet his family and and have some good old American ice cream. The movie is being produced by Warner Brothers and will also be in Chinese.