Billy Joel has condemned an upcoming biopic titled Billy & Me, told through the eyes of his first manager, as “legally and professionally misguided”.
Billy & Me, which was announced on Tuesday, is set to tell the story of Joel’s first manager Irwin Mazur, who discovered the singer in 1966, signed him in 1970 and oversaw his career up until Joel signed with Columbia Records in 1972. His career took off with his album Piano Man one year later.
Casting is now under way, with film-maker John Ottman, who recently edited the hit Michael Jackson biopic, Michael, set to direct.
However, Billy & Me does not have Joel’s approval, rights to his music, or his life rights – the latter essentially being an agreement studios strike to buy a person’s permission to adapt their personal story without the threat of lawsuits.
In a statement to Variety, Joel’s representative said on Tuesday: “Since 2021, the parties involved have been officially notified that they do not possess Billy Joel’s life rights and will not be able to secure the music rights required for this project.
“Billy Joel has not authorised or supported this project in any capacity, and any attempt to move forward without it would be both legally and professionally misguided.”
The film’s screenwriter, Adam Ripp, responded to Joel in the Hollywood Reporter. “At no point have we ever claimed to control or possess rights to Billy Joel’s original songs, nor has this film ever been conceived around the use of his hit catalog,” he said. “The project was always designed as an intimate origin story focused on the people and relationships surrounding Billy during this specific period of his life.”
Ripp said the production holds the exclusive life rights for Mazur, as well as Joel’s longtime friend and former bandmate Jon Small, who is attached to the film as a consultant, co-executive producer and second unit director.
Small and Joel first met as teenagers and were in the 1960s band the Hassles together, which put out Joel’s first recordings. After the band broke up, the two men formed the acid-rock band Attila, which Joel later described as “psychedelic bullshit.”
Attila broke up in 1971 when it was revealed Small’s wife, Elizabeth Weber, was having an affair with Joel. Weber left both men and Small rushed Joel to hospital after a suicide attempt during a subsequent depressive period. Weber became Joel’s third manager, after Mazur and Jon Troy, and they married in 1973 but split in 1982.
Small went on to become an acclaimed music video director, directing and producing videos for several of Joel’s hits including Uptown Girl and Piano Man, as well as his concert films.
Small has called Billy & Me: “the most honest, heartfelt, and authentic portrayal of Billy’s early life”, adding that it would be “grounded in truth, shaped with care, and built with the insight of people who genuinely know and love Billy.”
“As someone who was there from the very beginning, I can say this script captures not just the music, but the friendships, struggles, humor, and creative spark that defined those years,” he said.
Ottmann, meanwhile, called Billy & Me “a deeply emotional and fun story”.
“This is the formative years of Billy and his relationship with Irwin Mazur, the man who recognised Billy’s amazing talent even before Billy did himself,” he said. “Sure, the long hair, cigarette smoke and authentic look of the period turns me on as a film-maker, but what truly drew me to the material was the humanity at its core … It’s funny, heartbreaking, and ultimately very inspiring.”