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Whitecross asks Martin if hes watched the edit of the film that he sent over.
He met the groups eventual four members shortly after they all arrived as first-year students at University College London.
Whitecross came to school wanting to be a filmmaker, they wanted to be in a band.
Whitecross has since made films including the political documentariesThe Road to GuantanamoandThe Shock Doctrine.
Coldplay has sold over 77 million albums and still play stadiums around the world.
A Head Full of Dreamscomes after Whitecrosss fantastic 2016 film,Oasis: Supersonic.
The members of Coldplay met each other a month later.
Whitecrosss two movies work together as companion pieces about the biggest English rock bands of the past 25 years.
I thought it was the right time pretty much about a year after I met them.
And then a year after that.
And then a year after that.
I dont really want a film about us to be made, to be honest.
I was a little bit crestfallen.
Phil said, Do you want to come out to L.A.?
Weve got a gig on.
Were doing a livestream, it’s possible for you to direct that.
On my downtime I was still editing onSupersonic.
I had my laptop out with me.
Chris was looking over my shoulder and he goes, Whats this?
So the next night, they put it on the screen.
It wasnt even finished.
I didnt know what the hell was going on.
And of course his friend is Paul Thomas Anderson, so I was getting ten times more freaked out.
But it was lovely.
We screened the film for them and they loved it.
Then Phil came over at the end, slightly sheepishly Maybe its time to do our film.
I need to convince Chris.
I know youve got footage, I just dont know whether theyll be that comfortable with it.
I know youve got stuff thats never been seen.
Show me the worst stuff, and we can work our way back from there.
So I sent him a couple clips of the band at their youngest and spottiest and gawkiest.
He rang me up straight away and hes like, Thank God you sent me this stuff.
Can you just burn those tapes?
Set fire to them.
Im never going to allow that to be in the film.
He clocks it and hes like, Oh my God, this stuff is great!
Whered you get this from?
Obviously part of Phils job is to kind of protect the band and filter things.
He realized maybe enough times passed that they can start looking back.
It wasnt a foregone conclusion.
The only person who really worries about this stuff is Chris.
Which obviously isnt always true.
It took a little bit of time, psychologically, for him to get over that.
Im not even going to watch the rushes.
I will have no connection to this film.
You make the film you want to make.
But I dont think it was that.
So has he still has not seen it?
No, he hasnt seen it.
And he claims that hes never going to see it.
Maybe one day hell crack, you never know.
But his familys seen it.
The funny thing for me was that Phil was super focused on the trailer.
Hes spending hours and days pulling it apart, sending me like ten pages of notes on the trailer.
So we changed it around a hundred times.
I remember saying, Phil, its lovely youre doing this, but why do you care?
He was like, This is the only thing that Chris is gonna see.
Physical violence is a whole nother level, and I think brothers can always take it up a notch.
Theyre obviously very different bands and different personalities, although I should say one unifying thing is their drive.
Whatever anyone thinks of Oasis, whatever anyone thinks of Coldplay, those guys work their tits off.
And you know you’re free to see it in the early days of Oasis.
Noel drummed it into them like a drill sergeant.
Every day they were in there rehearsing.
And Chris is the same thing.
They all work obsessively.
The other thing is that theyre very, very funny.
Maybe people knew it about Oasis, but then people might have forgotten.
They got portrayed sometimes as being quite laddish and humorless.
Coldplay is sometimes characterized as being a bit dull.
I think the opposite is true, Chris is one of the funniest people Ive ever met.
But you dont become U2 by not wanting to become U2.
You have to really thirst for it and go after it.
It seems like Oasis was a lot more interested in Manchester United and going to the pub.
I think some bands feel a tad bit immature.
I think with Coldplay, the opposite [is true].
My family background is Argentinian.
I was so excited when [Coldplay] started touring South America.
It was really … this is a different phenomenon over here.
Its like a happening, its a spiritual event.
You see people in tears over the first notes.
We have a kind of chip on our shoulder in England.
Were quite a cynical country in some ways, and quite emotionally uptight.
I remember I came back from Argentina to London, Id spent a year traveling around South America.
I had to tone it down.
I was in social paralysis.
I was convinced people were flinching and pulling back.
Now its much more normal.
Im starting to see in Europe, the thinking has just changed gradually.
[Coldplay] get criticized over here for their being sentimental, but I dont buy that.
I feel like theyre emotional in a way thats uncomfortable to some people.
Some of your earlier films were political documentaries, is that something youre interested in going back to?
I only came to [Supersonic] by chance.
I was supposed to be doing a completely different film and then it fell apart.
[Supersonic] landed in my lap when my wife and I were expecting our first daughter.
It was great, this was a film which I can edit in my own front room.
It was a dream come true, but also bad timing psychologically for me.
Well see what happens.
Its like, ah, fuck, you cant turn down the Beatles.
So one last one.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
