An upcoming feature film about Billy Joel has already struck a sour note after a representative for the musician denounced it as “legally and professionally misguided”.

Billy and Me will focus on Joel’s early years – before his breakthrough 1973 hit Piano Man – and is being directed by John Ottman, who won an Oscar in 2019 for his editing work on the Freddie Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody.

Variety reports that the film will be told from the viewpoint of Irwin Mazur, who was the 77-year-old’s first manager and is credited with “discovering” him.

Casting has already begun and production is scheduled for later this year – but unlike the two-part, five-hour Joel documentary And So It Goes released last year by HBO, it doesn’t have the approval of the singer or the rights to use his music.

“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,” his representative told media outlets.

“Billy Joel has not authorised or supported this project in any capacity, and any attempt to move forward without it would be both legally and professionally misguided.”

The film’s writer, Adam Ripp, responded by emphasising that Billy and Me will be told through the eyes of Mazur and also feature the singer’s long-time friend, drummer Jon Small, his bandmate in The Hassles and, later,  the short-lived rock group Attila.

Ripp said it would focus on the period surrounding The Hassles, which Joel performed with from 1966 to 1969, and not use any of his original music.

“We don’t know who this rep is, but to characterise Billy and Me as ‘legally and professionally misguided’ does not accurately reflect the nature of the project nor the legally obtained rights underlying the production,” he told The Hollywood Reporter.

Mazur’s biography on movie site imdb.com states that he realised Joel had a “unique and special talent” when the teenage musician auditioned at the club his father owned on New York’s Long Island.

“Mazur spent the years of 1966 to 1972 managing, nurturing, and giving confidence to a singer songwriter whose talent and career has now been applauded for over 50 years,” it says.

Over that half decade, Joel won five Grammy Awards and released a string of hits including Piano Man, Uptown Girl, We Didn’t Start the Fire, and Just the Way You Are.

Director Ottman worked on the recent Michael Jackson biopic Michael and has an extensive list of credits as a film editor and composer that ranges from X-Men Apocalypse to The Usual Suspects.

He said the filmmakers had “tremendous respect for Billy Joel and his legacy”, and would tell “an honest, heartfelt story surrounding the young artist before the world knew his name”.

His comments were echoed by Small.

“Too often, stories about artists get lost in exaggeration or myth-making,” he told Variety.

“Billy & Me 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.”

Small also featured in And So It Goes. He spoke about how he discovered 20-something Joel had been having an affair with his then wife, Elizabeth Weber, whom the Piano Man later married and who inspired songs such as She’s Always a Woman.

The 2025 two-part documentary included interviews with Joel himself and fellow musicians including Bruce Springsteen, Pink and Paul McCartney, as well as his family and friends. It featured many of his songs, but also explored his personal life, including his affairs, drinking and mental health struggles.

“I think music saved my life,” Joel said in And So It Goes.

“It gave me a reason to live.”

Despite speaking candidly in that documentary, Joel does have form when it comes to eschewing a focus on his past. In 2011, his planned memoir was cancelled shortly before its release after he decided he didn’t want it published.

“It took working on writing a book to make me realise that I’m not all that interested in talking about the past,” he said at the time, adding that the best expression of his life “has been and remains my music”.