{"id":807989,"date":"2026-05-19T18:04:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T18:04:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/807989\/"},"modified":"2026-05-19T18:04:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T18:04:14","slug":"billy-joel-biopic-billy-and-me-in-the-works-from-director-john-ottman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/807989\/","title":{"rendered":"Billy Joel Biopic ‘Billy and Me’ in the Works from Director John Ottman"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tEditor and director John Ottman<\/a> is set to direct \u201cBilly & Me\u201d, a feature film chronicling the formative years of superstar singer-pianist Billy Joel.<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cBilly & Me\u201d tells the origin story of Joel before fame, before the hits \u2014\u00a0and, significantly, before \u201cPiano Man,\u201d the 1973 song and album that lofted him to stardom. The film is told through the eyes of Joel\u2019s first manager, Irwin Mazur, who discovered the singer in 1966, signed him in 1970 and oversaw his career up to his breakthrough deal with Columbia Records in 1972.<\/p>\n

\n\tCasting is currently underway, with production slated for this fall in Winnipeg, Canada and New York. The film follows the two-part 2025 HBO documentary on the singer, \u201cAnd So It Goes.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tThe production has secured Mazur\u2019s exclusive life rights, as well as those of Joel\u2019s longtime friend, drummer and video director Jon Small, who is also on board as a consultant, co-executive producer and second unit director. Small was Joel\u2019s drummer in their early band the Hassles, as well as Attila, a little-known acid-rock duo <\/a>comprised of him and Joel that released an album in 1970. That album is deeply incongruous with the singer\u2019s other work \u2014\u00a0Joel has described it in no uncertain terms as \u201cpsychedelic bullshit.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tIt is also unclear how or whether Elizabeth Weber, Joel\u2019s first wife and the subject of \u201cShe\u2019s Always a Woman,\u201d \u201cJust the Way You Are\u201d and many of his other hits, and will be portrayed in the film. She was married to Small and left him for Joel, leading to the breakup of Attila, before the couple themselves split up, factors that contributed to the singer spiraling into a deep depression and suicide attempts<\/a>, as he discussed in \u201cAnd So It Goes.\u201d Small found Joel and rushed him to the hospital after the second attempt, and the two reconciled, as did Joel and Weber, who later became his manager.<\/p>\n

\n\tA rep for Joel, who apparently has not authorized the biopic, did not immediately respond to Variety\u2018s request for comment. <\/p>\n

\n\tMost recently, Ottman served as lead editor on the \u201cMichael\u201d biopic<\/a> and oversaw all creative aspects of post production, including shaping performances, directing ADR, and supervising the final mix. Filmmaker Adam Ripp is set to write the script and will produce the film under his ArtPhyl Pictures banner.<\/p>\n

\n\tSmall says, \u201cThis is the most honest, heartfelt, and authentic portrayal of Billy\u2019s early life and rise to becoming one of the greatest musical voices of our time. \u2018Billy & Me\u2019 is 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe continues, \u201cToo often, stories about artists get lost in exaggeration or mythmaking. \u2018Billy & Me\u2019 reflects the real history with integrity and respect. I first met Billy when he was 16 years old, and after reading the script, I felt the filmmakers truly understood who he was before the world knew his name.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOttman says, \u201cI\u2019m really proud of the development work Adam Ripp and I did to shape \u2018Billy & Me\u2019 into both a deeply emotional and fun story. This is the formative years of Billy and his relationship with Irwin Mazur, the man who recognized Billy\u2019s amazing talent even before Billy did himself. 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.\u201d Ottman added, \u201cIt\u2019s funny, heartbreaking, and ultimately very inspiring.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFinancing is being assembled by Jay Cohen, former Partner and Head of Film Finance and Distribution at the Gersh Agency, who is also representing domestic distribution. The film\u2019s executive music producer is Grammy Award nominated music executive Mitchell Leib, who spent nearly three decades as President of Music and Soundtracks at The Walt Disney Studios.<\/p>\n

\n\tOttman is represented by David Gersh and Abram Nalibotsky at the Gersh Agency. Ripp is represented by Trevor Engelson at Underground.<\/p>\n

\n\tAdditional reporting by Jem Aswad.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Editor and director John Ottman is set to direct \u201cBilly & Me\u201d, a feature film chronicling the formative…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":807990,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[9],"tags":[22765,171,328586,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-807989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-billy-joel","tag-entertainment","tag-john-ottman","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116602566575236120","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=807989"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807989\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/807990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=807989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=807989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=807989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}