Biopic “The Mysterious Particle” to Spotlight CERN’s First Female Director General

Italian physicist Fabiola Gianotti, the first female director-general of CERN and a lead on the ATLAS experiment that confirmed the Higgs boson, will be the subject of a high-end biopic titled “The Mysterious Particle.” The film is being developed for the international market and will be produced by Picomedia (an Asacha Media Group company, part of Fremantle) together with Cinemaundici. Director Stefano Mordini (“The Invisible Witness”) will helm the project, which is set primarily at CERN’s Geneva site and the surrounding Alpine region where the $10 billion ATLAS atom smasher resides.

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The writing team includes novelist Paolo Giordano (“We Are Who We Are”), who holds a physics background and won Italy’s Premio Strega for *The Solitude of Prime Numbers*, screenwriter Luca Infascelli (“The Art of Joy”), and director-writer Stefano Mordini himself. Veteran producer Roberto Sessa, known for the hit drama *The Sea Outside*, leads Picomedia’s effort.

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Gianotti’s career began at CERN in 1994 after earning a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Milan. She later co-led one of the two experiments that discovered the Higgs boson—often dubbed the “God particle”—which clarified how matter formed after the Big Bang. The biopic will trace her childhood aspirations of becoming a prima ballerina and a classical pianist, her academic path, and her current life in an apartment overlooking Lake Geneva and Mont Blanc, where she still plays Bach, Schubert, and Brahms on a piano.

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• “The Mysterious Particle,” which is being developed for the international market, is being produced by Picomedia (an Asacha Media Group company, part of Fremantle) and Cinemaundici. — Variety

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• “The Mysterious Particle” will recount the personal and professional story of Gianotti, who dreamed of becoming a prima ballerina as a child, then considered becoming a classical pianist, before moving on to earn a Ph. D. in physics at the University of Milan and starting her career at CERN in 1994. — Variety

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• “The Mysterious Particle” writing team comprises Paolo Giordano (“We Are Who We Are”) who has a background in physics and whose novel “The Solitude of Prime Numbers” won Italy’s top literary nod, the Premio Strega, Luca Infascelli “The Art of Joy” and Mordini. — Variety

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• “The Mysterious Particle” will be directed by Stefano Mordini (“The Invisible Witness”). — Variety

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