Billy Joel Slams Biopic and Blocks His Music

has blasted a 'misguided' unauthorized biopic set to chronicle his early years before finding fame.

The legendary singer and pianist, 77, released an unprecedented and incendiary statement condemning Billy & Me - directed by Michael biopic director John Ottman - and vowed to never grant permission for his hits to be used in the film.

Billy & Me is 'told through the eyes of Joel's 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' per Variety.

A statement from the Piano Man's representative read: '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 authorized or supported this project in any capacity, and any attempt to move forward without it would be both legally and professionally misguided.'

While the film does not have Joel's authorization or his life rights - the legal agreements or permissions required to adapt a real person's life story - casting is underway with production set to begin this fall in Winnipeg, and New York.

Billy & Me's screenwriter Adam Ripp hit back at Joel to THR, writing: '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.'

'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 added that the film holds exclusive life rights for Mazur and Joel's former bandmate Jon Small, who serves as a consultant and co-executive producer on Billy & Me.

Small promised Billy & Me would be 'the most honest, heartfelt, and authentic portrayal of Billy’s early life' and 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.'

Ottman added: '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.'

In his early 20s, Joel was living with his Attila bandmate and best friend Small, along with Small's wife Elizabeth Weber and their young son, when he began a secret affair with Weber.

'I felt very, very guilty about it. They had a child. I felt like a homewrecker,' Joel explained in the 2025 documentary. 'I was just in love with a woman and I got punched in the nose - which I deserved. Jon was very upset. I was very upset.'

The fallout ended Attila, shattered Joel's friendship with Small, and left the future Piano Man broken and alone after Weber took off - though they would eventually reunite.

'I had no place to live. I was sleeping in laundromats and I was depressed, I think to the point of almost being psychotic,' he said.

'So I figured, "That’s it. I don’t want to live anymore." I was just in a lot of pain and it was sort of like, why hang out? Tomorrow’s going to be just like today, and today sucks. So I just thought I’d end it all.'

At the height of his breakdown, Joel turned to his sister, Judy Molinari, who was working as a medical assistant at the time.

Hoping to help him rest, she gave him some sleeping pills, never expecting what would happen next.

'But Billy decided that he was going to take all of them… he was in a coma for days and days and days,' she recalled in the documentary.

Molinari revealed that Joel’s second attempt involved drinking a bottle of Lemon Pledge furniture polish.

It was Small, despite their fractured friendship, who rushed him to the hospital.

'Even though our friendship was blowing up, Jon saved my life,' Joel said.

Small later reflected on why the betrayal may have hit Joel so hard.

'He never really said anything to me. The only practical answer I can give as to why Billy took it so hard was because he loved me that much and that it killed him to hurt me that much. Eventually I forgave him.'

Joel's illustrious career as a musician began back in the mid-1960s, which led to the release of debut studio album, Cold Spring Harbor (1971).

But it failed to gain any real traction until the success of his follow-up, Piano Man (1973), that peaked at number 25 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number four on the Adult Contemporary singles chart.

Joel became a million seller with the release of Streetlife Serenade (1974), but his commercial breakout making him a bonafide star came with the release of The Stranger (1977), which featured the hit singles Movin' Out (Anthony's Song), Just The Way You Are, She's Always a Woman, The Stranger, and Only The Good Die Young.

The Stranger album, which was the first Joel's to be produced by Phil Ramone, went on to spend six weeks at number two on the US Billboard 200 chart, en route to selling more than 10 million copies worldwide.

Maintaining his momentum, Joel dropped 52nd Street (1978) the following year, and it would end making his fist number one album of his career, with the support of such hit singles as My Life, Big Shot, Until The Night and Honesty.

With over 160 million records sold worldwide,  Joel is one of the world's best-selling musical artists, and the fourth-best-selling solo artist in the United States.