Billy Joel’s rep states the biopic “Billy & Me” doesn’t have life or music rights and continuing with the project would be “legally and professionally misguided.”
WASHINGTON — Billy Joel said the biopic about his live, titled “Billy & Me” is happening without his authorization or support.
The “Piano Man” singer’s representative told Variety he is not involved with the project set to start filming this fall.
“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,” the representative told Variety. “Billy Joel has not authorized or supported this project in any capacity, and any attempt to move forward without it would be both legally and professionally misguided.”
The biopic, which was announced Tuesday, will be focused on Joel’s origin story “before fame” and before his hit “Piano Man,” Variety reported.
The biopic is currently casting and has “Michael” and “Bohemian Rhapsody” editor John Ottman poised to direct, PEOPLE reported.
The movie is listed in “pre-production” on IMDb with the summary: “Before he became the piano man. Before he married an uptown girl. Before he was in a New York State of mind. One man believed in Billy Joel more than Billy believed in himself.”
Adam Ripp is writing the screenplay and told The Hollywood Reporter the film never intended to use Joel’s hits.
“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,” he said. “The film is told primarily through the point of view of Irwin Mazur, who discovered Billy as a teenager and managed him for approximately seven years. We hold the exclusive life rights to Irwin Mazur.”
Mazur worked with Joel in the years before his 1973 hit and nickname “Piano Man.”
Jon Small, a former longtime friend and drummer for Joel’s pre-Piano Man band The Hassles, is also involved in the biopic, Entertainment Weekly reported.
Small and Joel had a falling out when Joel allegedly had an affair with Small’s wife, who Joel later married and divorced nine years later, EW reported.
“This is the most honest, heartfelt, and authentic portrayal of Billy’s early life and rise to becoming one of the greatest musical voices of our time,” Small told ScreenRant. “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.”
No other casting or details for the movie are known at this time.