Credit: Raph Pour-Hashemi
Mon 17 August 2026 16:48, UK
An unauthorised documentary on the early career of Billy Joel, which has been made with AI, is currently in the works.
There are a number of projects floating around at the moment charting the life of the iconic Piano Man, both with and without his prior approval, with the latest likely to ruffle some feathers.
The newest addition is an AI animated film which has been made based on a lost interview a then 22-year-old Joel gave to a college radio station in Long Island off the back of the release of his first album, Cold Spring Harbor.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Adam Ripp is behind the AI film, and also happens to be the son of Artie Ripp, who produced Joel’s debut record.
The pair famously parted ways on acrimonious terms after the singer accused the producer of causing the album’s commercial failure by mastering it at the wrong speed.
However, in terms of the latest film, Joel’s first manager, Irwin Mazur, reportedly unearthed the tapes of the lost radio appearance alongside his cousin Ed Mann, who conducted the interview in 1971.
They subsequently brought the tapes to Ripp, who then used a Canadian AI company to animate photos and sound recordings into the 20-minute movie, 1971: Billy Joel’s Lost Interview.
Joel himself has not commented on the development of the project since it was first reported on last week, but it is the latest in a line of unauthorised projects being made about him involving Mazur.
The singer’s former manager is set to become the focal point of the biopic Billy & Me, telling Joel’s story from his perspective as well as that of his ex-bandmate, Jon Small.
With Ripp also onboard that project as a screenwriter and with the movie set to be directed by John Ottman, a representative of the ‘Vienna’ singer was forced to clarify that it did not have the approval of the musician himself and was “both legally and professionally misguided” when it was announced back in May.
Given his disapproval of the initial biopic, Joel is also likely to be unhappy with the AI-generated plans for his lost interview, though he has not yet made any public statement on the matter.
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