'Last Play at Shea' isn't just about Joel's concerts

When it came time to document his historic "Last Play at Shea" concerts in 2008, Billy Joel was thinking about "Jaws."

"You know, Steven Spielberg originally thought the mechanical shark was going to be the star of the movie," Joel says. "It turned out, the shark was kind of a dud. It didn't look right. It didn't eat people right. It didn't film well. He realized he was going to have to make this movie about the thought of the shark, the fear of the shark. He was going to have to make the anticipation palpable."

Joel said he had simple instructions for the documentary team.

"If you're making this movie about Billy Joel," he says, "make believe I'm the shark."

He got his wish.

A Citi Field premiere

The "Last Play at Shea" documentary, which will make its public debut at Citi Field Aug. 21 in what is expected to be the largest outdoor movie presentation ever, isn't really about Billy Joel, though he and his music are certainly at the center of it. "Last Play at Shea" is actually about the creation and rise of the suburbs of Long Island and how the products of that include Shea Stadium, the Mets and Joel himself.

"I suppose I'm the protagonist," Joel says, "but I'm not the movie star. They're telling the story without really using me that much, which I kind of like.

"It turns out to be a really interesting story - how Long Island got developed, Robert Moses, the history of Shea Stadium, the return of National League baseball to New York, the postwar baby boom, Levittown, all of that stuff," Joel continues. "I'm a history nut. They got a lot of that into the film without making it look like a classroom lecture."

Although it's already been dubbed by some as a vanity project, due to Joel's $4-million investment in Maritime Films, it's about as far from an enough-about-me-how-do-you-feel-about-me? biopic as you can get. "If I wasn't involved in it, I might think it was a vanity project," he says. "I could see how somebody would think that. But it's really not a tribute to me. It's about how I'm just part of it. I'm not the history of Long Island."

The 90-minute film, directed by Paul Crowder for Joel's Maritime Films, uses a mix of historical footage and animation, as well as footage shot at the 2008 concerts at Shea Stadium, to show how the rise of the suburbs on Long Island helped shift American life. It also gives longtime Mets fans and Joel fans a new perspective on events they have experienced and how both franchises are woven together.

Joel says he remembers seeing guys wearing Mets hats walking out sobbing after watching the movie when it was screened at this year's Tribeca Film Festival. "I thought, 'That's cool,'" he says. "It's like a chick flick for guys."

"Last Play at Shea" does give Joel a chance to clear up a common misconception: He is a Mets fan.

"People think I'm a Yankee fan because there are pictures of me with a Yankee hat on," he says. "This may sound like a cop-out, but I'm a New York fan. I'm a fan of anybody who plays in New York. I like the Knicks. I like the Mets. I like the Yankees. I liked the Dodgers. I became a Yankee fan when the Dodgers left. Then when the Mets came, I became a Met fan.

"Call me a slut," he continues. "I'll sleep with anybody who's from New York."

O! say can you boo? 

Joel remembers singing the national anthem at a 1986 World Series game at Shea and having fans boo him when he left the field.

"Boo! Yankee fan!" he says, re-creating the catcalls. "I think it's hard for some people to believe that I can be a Met fan, too. Actually, I believe it's harder to be a Met fan than a Yankee fan. You really have to be a true fan to follow the Mets because they can be so excruciatingly frustrating. They could have a good year, and then they just blow it. You think they're going to have a dynasty, and then they just fall apart. But when they win, it's so much more meaningful."

The film shows some parallels between the Mets' ups and downs and Joel's. That said, Joel's final Shea appearance went far better than the Mets', who didn't make the playoffs in the stadium's final year.

And his decision to let Paul McCartney, who opened Shea Stadium and ushered in the era of stadium rock with The Beatles in 1965, play the final song there ("Let It Be") will go down in history as one of rock's most selfless acts. Of course, Joel doesn't see it that way.

"It was poetic," Joel says. "And it was no sweat off my back to give up the spotlight. To stand there and watch him play his own song was a wonderful moment in my life. I stood there like a fan. When I'm up there, I'm not up there being a performer. I'm thinking like a fan about what I would like to see if I was watching the show."

Speaking of sweat, Joel says it's the biggest thing he wishes he could change in the documentary. "I was kind of embarrassed at how sweaty I was," he says. "Couldn't someone have told me, 'Wipe yourself off'? Couldn't someone have said, 'You're making a movie. You might want to towel down?'"

Anyone who went to that show would remember how oppressively hot and humid it was, even just standing and watching, and anyone who remembered the record-setting heat of that week would be able to forgive Joel a little sweat, especially considering how hard he works under the hot spotlights.

Sweat aside, Joel says he's happy with how "Last Play at Shea" turned out.

"I'm not a movie star," says Joel, who has taken most of this year off to spend with his family and friends and "finally having a personal life." "I'm never comfortable in an interview if it's being filmed. I don't really like having my picture taken. I think anyone who looks at pictures of me thinks, 'That guy is not happy in front of the camera.' But I'm as happy as I'm gonna be with a movie about me."

WHEN | WHERE "Last Play at Shea" makes its Newsday-sponsored public debut at 8 p.m. Aug. 21 at Citi Field, Roosevelt Avenue, Flushing. Tickets are $10 through 507TIXX.com and by calling 718-507-TIXX.

Spin-offs from 'Last Play at Shea'

EXTENDED 'PLAY' Though Billy Joel's "Last Play at Shea" finished more than two years ago, it will live on - even beyond the upcoming documentary of the same name, which should see a theatrical release this fall.

What else is planned?

CONCERT FILM Still untitled, a film of Joel's performances over the two nights, which included appearances by Tony Bennett, Garth Brooks, John Mayer, and, of course, Paul McCartney, will likely be assembled after the documentary has been released.

A SOUNDTRACK ALBUM "I'm not in favor of it, but there will probably be one," Joel says. "I understand people wanting it because they were a part of that moment and want to remember it. But a concert film or just a soundtrack of the show itself doesn't really represent what happened. You can't really re-create the moment. I would actually prefer if there wasn't one, but I'm sure it will be hard for Sony to pass one up."

ANOTHER NATIONAL RECORD With more than 20,000 fans expected for the premiere of the movie at Citi Field, Joel's "Last Play at Shea" will break the previous record for largest outdoor movie presentation set in 1919 at a showing of the movies of Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks in Columbus, Ohio.