Brad Pitt is used to the call of the bright lights and flashbulbs but now a film company has put a price on buying a slice of the film star’s time – at £2,000 for a 20-minute chat.

Journalists at the Cannes film festival are being asked to pay on a ‘menu’ of prices for access for biggest stars.

And they can’t even demand that Brad, 48, fill their allotted time by, say, frolicking topless with kittens while serenading them. In fact, they’re just trying to get interviews about his new film, Killing Them Softly.

The price works out at more than £12million a year – £2million more than the fee Pitt allegedly received for his role in Inglourious Basterds.

Canadian film distribution company Alliance is also asking for the same sum to chat to Kristen Stewart, 22, about her film On The Road.

And it’s £1,200 for 20 minutes with Sopranos star James Gandolfini, 50, Matthew McConaughey, 42, or 44-year-old Nicole Kidman.

Publicist Max Clifford last night told Metro that charging journalists for access was a ‘ridiculously bad’ idea.

He said: ‘Certainly, it’s not the way to win friends and influence people.

‘When any major star appears in a major movie, part of the deal is to spend some time promoting it.’

If the fee was to pay for the stars to fly to Cannes, the press should have been done in LA, Mr Clifford added.

It is thought to be the first time that reporters have been charged for access to stars who rely on promotion to boost box-office demand. Film website Deadline claimed that Alliance was up for sale and under pressure to keep down overheads.

Alliance spokeswoman Anne Tremblay said: ‘The fee is simply a means for the expenses to be shared.

‘These stars travel by private jet, with their agents, make-up artists and hairdressers; someone’s got to pay.’