Biopics are getting audiences high, all right. Given the $700 million box office of Michael, the heavily doctored and feel-good retelling of Michael Jackson’s pre-pedophilia allegations origins, Hollywood will be singing the musical biopic song for many years to come. With that in mind, Variety announced today that Billy Joel would be receiving the treatment via an unauthorized look at the Piano Man through the eyes of his first manager, Irwin Mazur.
Currently titled Billy And Me, this particular biopic falls into the Nowhere Boy category of rock star origin story, following a pre-fame Joel right up until the point when barflies start asking him, “Man, what are you doing here?” The movie covers Mazur’s discovery of Joel in 1966 through Joel’s Columbia Records deal in 1972.
Directed by Michael editor John Ottman, the film has yet to receive the blessing of Joel’s camp, which probably means they don’t have the rights to his story or his most famous songs (not that it matters because the movie takes place before he wrote any of them). Variety notes, though, that they did get Mazur’s life rights and those of Joel’s friend, one-time drummer, and video director Jon Small, a consultant and executive producer on the film. Small drummed for Joel during the singer’s “psychedelic bullshit” phase, playing in the bands Attila and The Hassles.
Joel’s music has previously been the basis for a jukebox musical, Movin’ Out, which was more of a Billy Joel ballet, and ran for three years on Broadway.
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