A new unauthorized film about Billy Joel’s early years is set to debut this fall, and it uses artificial intelligence to animate a rediscovered 1971 college radio interview, according to Stereogum.
The 20-minute project, titled 1971: Billy Joel’s Lost Interview, was reportedly made by Adam Ripp, the son of producer Artie Ripp. The story behind the film also involves Irwin Mazur, who sat in on the original interview, and his cousin Ed Mann, who owned the master recording.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Ripp and others involved in the project brought the recordings to him, and he then worked with a Canadian AI company to create the animated film. The AI was trained on photos taken by Mazur and members of his team, which they had the rights to use.
The film is scheduled to premiere Sept. 25 at the Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame’s Music Documentary Film Festival. Festival director Tom Needham said the AI approach is likely to spark discussion, while Ripp said the project is partly meant to restore credit to Mazur and possibly to his own family name.
