Keira’s got it – what about Brad?

IT’S just the sort of conundrum to bring a chuckle to the lips of wily Professor Higgins.

Keira s set to be a Fair Lady Keira’s set to be a Fair Lady

Hollywood stars Brad Pitt and George Clooney are locked in a bizarre bidding war for his role in a remake of the classic film My Fair Lady – with each trying to undercut his rival.

Pitt has already lost one battle with Columbia Pictures to have his partner Angelina Jolie cast as Eliza Doolittle, the Cockney flower-seller from George Bernard Shaw’s play Pygmalion.

So if the Professor was tempted to utter that famous line: “By George, she’s got it!” it would be Keira Knightley he was taking about .

The role made famous in 1964 by Audrey Hepburn has gone to the British star for what is thought to be her biggest-yet salary of £5.4million – double her fee for Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World’s End.

Studio executives face the embarrassing dilemma of who to cast opposite her, with Pitt and Clooney so desperate to land the role that won Rex Harrison an Oscar they have pledged to take massive pay cuts.

Last night it was reported that the friends are no longer talking after Clooney admitted: “We both badly want a particular role and neither of us is backing down.

It’s sort of become an intense competition between us and it just keeps escalating.”

A senior studio source said: “In the end, it might be a nice bonus for the movie’s budget but who the hell wants the embarrassment of having to turn down either Brad or George?

“One of them has even suggested we have a private audition to see who’s best at a reading from the draft script. When was the last time either of them auditioned? Potentially, it would be even more embarrassing to say ‘Thanks but no thanks’ to one of them after that.”

A senior producer said last night: “One of them needs to pull back but there’s no sign of either being chivalrous so who knows where it will end?” Columbia is co-developing My Fair Lady with CBS Films, which owns the screening rights to the Lerner and Lowe musical.

Principal casting is being carried out by British producer Duncan Kenworthy, who produced the hits Notting Hill and Love, Actually.

He has refused to comment on the tussle between Pitt and Clooney for a role Hollywood observers believe would be expected to be worth an £11million pay cheque.

Both Pitt, 44, and Clooney, 47, are among fewer than a dozen stars able to command that sort of figure. Pitt has earned £9.5million for each of Fight Club, Troy and Meet Joe Black, while Clooney’s salary tends to be £8million.

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