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Angelina Jolie 'kidnapped' Chris Martin for 'Unbroken' song

"I find that a little bit of limitation is really helpful when you're trying to create," Martin says about writing the track for the film.

By Veronica Linares
Chris Martin of the British rock band Coldplay performs live during BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend in Glasgow on May 24, 2014. UPI/Paul Treadway
1 of 4 | Chris Martin of the British rock band Coldplay performs live during BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend in Glasgow on May 24, 2014. UPI/Paul Treadway | License Photo

NEW YORK, Dec. 22 (UPI) -- Coldplay's frontman Chris Martin joked that actress and director Angelina Jolie "kidnapped" him to make him write a song for her second directorial effort, Unbroken.

The 37-year-old singer told Vulture, Jolie sent him a message that said: "'Meet in this undisclosed location. You'll be blindfolded and picked up by seven ex–Navy SEALs."

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"So they kidnapped me, hit me over the head, and sprayed me with Mace. When I woke up, I was in an office, and Brad Pitt was doing push-ups as Angelina Jolie was just sitting there with her crown on. There was also a guy holding a knife to my throat, and she said, 'Write me a song, or else.' And Brad Pitt said, 'Yeah. What she said.'"

The British singer later likened Jolie to X Factor judge Simon Cowell and teased that "Miracles," the song he wrote for the biopic about POW Olympian Louis Zamperini, came in second in the selection process but "the main guy chickened out."

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Martin's song is among the contenders for an Academy Award for the Best Original Song honor. While describing the writing process, the musician revealed he favored writing a single track versus an entire album.

"I find that a little bit of limitation is really helpful when you're trying to create," he explained. "Let's say you come up with an idea -- like, 'I want to have a school for wizards' -- then you've got a nice parentheses to put everything in. It's the same way when someone says to me, 'Here's the film and the book. Write something about that.' It's really nice to have those limitations because otherwise, where do you start?"

Martin also composed the track "Atlas" for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Both "Miracles" and "Atlas" play over the closing credits of the films.

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