If you love music biographies in movie form, you are likely in for a treat soon. That is because of the huge success of the Michael Jackson biopic, Michael. The next artist to have a film made about him appears to be Billy Joel.
According to Variety, a film directed by John Ottman called Billy & Me is underway. Numerous differences exist between Michael and what Billy & Me will be like, though, and that is among the things that could limit the Billy Joel film's draw.
For one, Joel, as great as he is, isn't nearly as popular as Jackson. People are going to show up to Jackson things because of who he is. Joel will have people do the same, but a lot fewer of them.
Billy Joel movie project sounds as if it won't be very good
Secondly, while Michael was about the music Jackson made and mostly stuck to that premise, which caused some outrage by critics who wanted to see more insight into Jackson's controversial private life (by the way, that isn't to say Jackson was guilty of anything, but only that his life is controversial because of what he was accused), Billy & Me won't be much about the musis itself.
The premise is that the "me" part of the title is Joel's first manager, Irwin Mazur, who worked with the piano man until 1972. That is pre-hits, mind you. So what one will see from the Joel biopic is his formative years before he came close to being the megastar that he is today.
That's a bit like a film about Michael Jackson that covers the time between the Jackson 5 and his solo career. The parts of Joel's life that people might want to see made into a biopic are mostly missing. Not that his early life didn't have meaning because, of course, it did, but he's famous because of his songs.
John Ottman hasn't directed a movie since 2000's Urban Legends: Final Cut (that's not a joke), while Michael was directed by Antoine Fuqua, has directed 15 movies in that time. Ottman is a longtime collaborator of Bryan Singer's, so take that for what it's worth.
Notably, Billy Joel is not involved with the film. This might be incorrect, but the movie sounds like it's going to be from the sole viewpoint of his former manager, so it's a bit of a comment on Joel's life without any input from the subject. No cast is yet known for what appears to be an underwhelming project.
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