Actress Angelina Jolie
Cast member Angelina Jolie poses at the premiere of "Maleficent" at El Capitan theatre in Hollywood, California May 28, 2014. The movie opens in the U.S. on May 30. Reuters/Mario Anzuoni

Angelina Jolie made his “Unbroken” actor physically sick. Japanese singer-actor Miyavi, who plays the sadistic prison camp leader Mutsuhiro Watanabe in the war drama film, was left sobbing after filming intense scenes.

The film, which is produced and directed by Jolie based on the novel of the same name by Laura Hillenbrand, is based on the story of Olympic athlete Louis Zamperini, who survived a plane crash in the Pacific, only to be caught by the Japanese during the World War II. Zamperini spent over two and a half years as a prisoner of war in Japanese camps.

Playing Watanabe, Miyavi filmed scenes wherein he tortured the prisoners of war, including Zamperini (played by Jack O’Connell). Jolie encouraged him to get into character by immersing himself into the mindset of the prison guard leader who was accustomed to violence.

“It was awful torture for me to hate the other actors – I had to have hatred for them,” the 33-year-old pop star told Vanity Fair magazine, as quoted by eonline.com. “When I had to beat them, I had to think about protecting my family. At the same time, I didn’t want to be just a bad guy. I wanted to put humanity in this role. [Matsuhiro] was both crazy and sadistic, but also weak and traumatised.”

The torture scenes had Miyavi throw up after, and some of the more violent scenes had him crying nonstop.

“It’s a story that is still painful for my country,” he added. “But she [Jolie] told me she wanted to make a bridge between all countries that had conflict. She was very persuasive.”

Jolie was also emotional about the film. She watched an early cut of the film with Zamperini before the war hero died on July 2 at age 97.

“I was more emotional than he was,” Brad Pitt’s wife previously told Vanity Fair of Zamperini. “I went in to take care of him – and he was taking care of me.”

“Unbroken,” which was shot in Australia, also stars Garrett Hedlund, Jai Courtney, Domhnall Gleeson, Finn Wittrock, John Magaro, Luke Treadaway, Travis Jeffery and Alex Russell. It will hit theatres on December 25.