Scott Free Productions Developing ‘The Vesuvius Challenge’ Doc Film

EXCLUSIVE: Ridley Scott’s Scott Free Productions and Jim O’Shaughnessy’s Infinite Films have developed and produced documentary feature The Vesuvius Challenge in partnership with directors Daniel DiMauro and Morgan Pehme’s Calliope Pictures.

“For decades, computer scientist Brent Seales has pursued an obsession long thought impossible: reading the hundreds of scrolls carbonized by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D,” the film’s logline reads. “Armed with cutting-edge imaging, artificial intelligence, and relentless determination, Dr. Seales and his underdog team work to digitally unlock the secrets of ancient Rome’s only surviving library. As their quest captures global attention, The Vesuvius Challenge becomes a high-stakes story of perseverance, discovery, and humanity’s quest to recover the great lost books of antiquity.”

Guy Pearce narrates the feature. 

The team of scientists and academics recently announced in Naples that they are now able to unwrap and read damaged Herculaneum scrolls, including works from philosopher Philodemus of Gadara, that have remained a mystery since the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.

Executive prodicers on The Vesuvius Project include Ridley Scott, Jim O’Shaughnessy, Elyse Seder, Nick Tawil, Fredrik Stanton and Alex Petkas. Shirel Kozak (producer on Magnolia Pictures’s History of Concrete, HBO’s Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind) serves as producer.

Scott Free Productions is the film and television production vehicle of directors, Ridley and Tony Scott, founded in 1995. Since forming in 2023, the Nonfiction team has been developing and producing a slate of unscripted content across every genre, from repeatable global formats to documentary films and series. 

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Calliope Pictures is a New York City-based film production company founded by the creative team behind Netflix’s Get Me Roger Stone. Calliope’s projects include HBO’s The Swamp, Discovery+’s The Men Who Sold the World Cup, and Inheritance, which won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2024 Slamdance Film Festival.

Infinite Films develops and produces films such as Flipside, a critically acclaimed documentary that premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2023 and The Big Cheese, winner of the Grand Jury Award for Best Documentary in 2026 at the Cleveland International Film Festival. 

Scott Free Productions is repped by CAA. Calliope Pictures is repped by Ray Javdan (Javdan Firm PLLC). Infinite Films is repped by Jackie Eckhouse (Sloss Eckhouse Dasti Haynes Law Co LLP).

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