AI-generated Billy Joel from 1971 to be featured in new documentary at Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame

A version of Billy Joel generated by artificial intelligence is the star of a new documentary, "1971: Billy Joel’s Lost Interview."

The 20-minute short will hold its world premiere Sept. 25 as part of the Music Documentary Film Festival at the Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame in Stony Brook.

The documentary is based on an interview with Joel that took place in December 1971 at Long Island University's C.W. Post campus radio station, WCWP, in Brookville, according to the filmmakers. Joel, who had just released his solo debut album, "Cold Spring Harbor," was interviewed by Ed Mann, then a student at the college who hosted a show called "That’s Interesting." Mann also happened to be the cousin of Joel’s then-manager, Irwin Mazur. Joel would go on to split with Mazur and also with his then-record producer, Artie Ripp, and for the next 55 years, the audio of the interview was thought to be lost.

According to filmmaker Adam Ripp — son of Artie — Mazur called him roughly a year ago with news that Mann had discovered the quarter-inch reel-to-reel tape containing the hourlong interview.

"It’s just been sitting in storage for the last 50 years," Ripp told Newsday.

Ripp said he licensed the audio from Mann and set about trying to turn it into a film. Instead of using animation or actors to recreate the scene, Ripp turned to AI. Using photographs of Joel that he owned, plus a list of Joel’s characteristic gestures and facial expressions — dubbed "Billyisms" and compiled by a producer who watched hours of YouTube footage of the singer — Ripp was able to recreate a realistic version of a 22-year-old Joel, complete with a bushy mustache and tropical-print shirt, speaking in a wood-paneled radio booth. (The generative work was done by a company called Level Up Digital, according to Ripp.)

"This film is a time-travel machine for Billy, to take him back 50 years," Ripp said. "We took great care in creating this film."

Ripp's movie isn't the first time Joel has been de-aged through the magic of AI. The Piano Man's video for his 2024 single, "Turn the Lights Back On," featured several younger versions of Joel associated with his albums "The Stranger," "The Bridge" and "River of Dreams." That work was done by the AI studio DeepVoodoo.

"I'll infer from that that Billy is supportive of using AI animation," Ripp said. "I would hope that Billy as an artist would respect what I did as an artist."  A ttitle card does state  "This documentary is an independent historical work and is not endorsed by, affiliated with, or sponsored by Billy Joel." A representative for Joel did not respond to a request for comment.

The Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame screening will be followed by a Q&A with Ripp, Mazur and Mann.

"It’s like 50 years just disappeared," Mann said in a statement of the AI-generated footage. "The recreation of the interview now allows an insight of Billy, which perhaps was not often seen in 1971. For me, personally, it is so gratifying to have participated in something which has another life in such an exciting way."

By Rafer Guzmán

rafer.guzman@newsday.com