The production team frames this as the 'authentic' untold story — Jon Small calls it 'the most honest, heartfelt, and authentic portrayal of Billy's early life,' emphasizing truth over mythmaking.
Billy Joel's rep did not respond to Variety's request for comment. That's a telling silence when your own life's story is being shopped around Hollywood without confirmation you're even on board.
Production has secured exclusive life rights from both Irwin Mazur AND Jon Small — Joel's early drummer and video director who was also in the infamous Attila acid-rock duo. Filming begins fall 2026 in Winnipeg and New York.
A biopic without the subject's blessing is a red flag wrapped in a red curtain. We'll see if 'Billy & Me' becomes an intimate portrait or just another unauthorized tell-all with creative liberties taken.
Hollywood is digging into Billy Joel's past, and the Piano Man might not even know it. Editor-turned-director John Ottman is set to helm "Billy & Me," a feature film chronicling Joel's formative years before he became a stadium-filling legend. The project tells the origin story through the eyes of Irwin Mazur, who discovered Joel in 1966, signed him in 1970, and guided his career up until his breakthrough deal with Columbia Records in 1972 — essentially capturing Billy Joel the man before Billy Joel the icon existed.
But here's where things get interesting: a rep for Joel did not immediately respond to Variety's request for comment on the film. That's not nothing. When your life's story is being adapted for the screen and your own representative can't be reached or won't comment, it raises questions about whether the man behind 'Uptown Girl' is actually blessing this project — or if he's learning about it the same way we are.
The production has secured Mazur's exclusive life rights AND those of Jon Small, Joel's longtime friend, early drummer in the Hassles, and co-star in Attila, a little-known acid-rock duo that released an album in 1970. Small is on board as consultant, co-executive producer, and second unit director. Small has plenty to say about authenticity, at least.
'This is the most honest, heartfelt, and authentic portrayal of Billy's early life,' he said in a statement. 'Too often, stories about artists get lost in exaggeration or mythmaking.' He added that he first met Joel when he was 16 years old and felt the filmmakers 'truly understood who he was before the world knew his name.' Fair enough — but one person's truth is another person's revisionist history when the subject isn't in the room approving it.
There's also the matter of what they're actually filming. The Attila album Joel released with Small in 1970 has been described as 'deeply incongruous' with his later work, and Joel himself has called it 'psychedelic bullshit.' Will this biopic force him to confront that embarrassing chapter? Director Ottman says he's drawn to the 'long hair, cigarette smoke and authentic look of the period,' but notes what truly attracted him was 'the humanity at its core' — calling the film 'funny, heartbreaking, and ultimately very inspiring.' Adam Ripp wrote the script and is producing under his ArtPhyl Pictures banner.
Financing comes from Jay Cohen, former Partner and Head of Film Finance at Gersh Agency, with Grammy-nominated music executive Mitchell Leib serving as executive music producer. Production is slated for fall 2026 in Winnipeg, Canada and New York — a curious location choice given Joel's deep New York roots. The film follows the two-part 2025 HBO documentary "And So It Goes," which gave fans their most comprehensive look at Joel's life to date.
But this theatrical feature aims to go deeper into the pre-fame years most fans have never seen dramatized. Whether Billy Joel wants it told that way — or at all — remains suspiciously unclear.
