BILLY JOEL: AND SO IT GOES Documentary Sets HBO Premiere

The HBO Original two-part documentary Billy Joel: AND SO IT GOES, directed by Emmy® winners Susan Lacy (HBO’s “Jane Fonda in Five Acts” and “Spielberg”) and Jessica Levin (producer of HBO’s “The Janes” and “Jane Fonda in Five Acts”), debuts FRIDAY, JULY 18 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT followed by part two debuting Friday, July 25 at the same time on HBO and will be available to stream on HBO Max.

Billy Joel: AND SO IT GOES is an expansive portrait of Billy Joel, the six-time GRAMMY®-winning, Rock & Roll Hall of Famer from Long Island, New York. With unprecedented access to never-before-seen performances, home movies, and personal photographs, along with intimate one-on-one interviews, the documentary explores the life and work of the singer/songwriter whose music has not only endured but soared across generations.

The two-part film is crafted around in-depth, exclusive interviews with Joel, illuminating the key moments that forged his character and the events and muses that inspired his music for more than six decades. Exploring revelatory new territory and enriched by dynamic video and performance clips from Joel’s musical oeuvre, many never before seen, the documentary gives a window into his process and chronicles his monumental successes, while diving into the hidden complexities of his life.

From his childhood on Long Island, shaped by the absence of his father, to his first bands, the women he loved, and the colleagues and collaborators who both supported and betrayed him, Joel’s decades of songwriting mirror his rich, complicated autobiography. Sharing origin stories about such chart hits as “Just the Way You Are,” an ode to his first love, and “Uptown Girl,” famously about second wife Christie Brinkley, the film points to the close symbiosis between his life and art, revealing the music that transformed his career, sculpted his legacy, and saved his life.

The film features interviews with Joel himself, as well as figures who played influential roles in his life and career, including friend and former collaborator Jon Small, ex-wife and former manager Elizabeth Weber, ex-wives Christie Brinkley and Katie Lee, daughter Alexa Ray Joel, wife Alexis Roderick Joel, members of his band, and musical contemporaries, such as Bruce Springsteen, Sting, John Mellencamp, Nas, Pink, Garth Brooks, Paul McCartney, and more.

HBO Documentary Films presents Billy Joel: AND SO IT GOES a Pentimento Production, a Playtone – Hazy Mills Production. Directed and produced by Susan Lacy and Jessica Levin; executive producers, Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman, Todd Milliner, Sean Hayes, and Steve Cohen; producer, Emma Pildes; editors, Kris Liem, James Pilott, and Steven Ross. For HBO: executive producers, Nancy Abraham, Lisa Heller, and Sara Rodriguez.

Photo Courtesy of Art Maillett/Sony Music Archives/HBO