Cast member Brad Pitt poses on the red carpet after the screening of the film "Killing Them Softly", in competition at the 65th Cannes Film Festival, May 22, 2012. REUTERS/Christian Hartmann (FRANCE - Tags: ENTERTAINMENT)

Brad Pitt has defended the prevalence of violence in Hollywood films, saying everyone who eats a hamburger is complicit in a violent act.

His latest film, Killing Them Softly, premiered in Cannes and the gangster thriller had many audience members wincing at the bloody scenes.

But Pitt said: “We live in such a violent world. I grew up hunting, which is a very violent act.

“If you ever had a hamburger, have you seen how they butcher a cow? It’s barbaric. it’s horrendous.

“This is the world we live in. I don’t see a world without violence.”

The title of the film comes from the manner in which Pitt takes out his victims.

Asked if he worried about his children seeing him play murderous characters on screen, Pitt replied: “Violence is an accepted part of the gangster world. Murder is an accepted part.

“I would have a much harder time playing a racist or something along those lines. It would be much more unsettling for me than a guy who shoots another guy in the face.”

Andrew Dominik, the film’s director, dismissed any criticism of its violent content.

He told a press conference in Cannes: “I don’t understand the obsession with [criticising] violence. It’s like Grimm’s Fairytale - nobody likes them any more but they are very important for a child because they dramatise a child’s concerns and give them a way of managing those concerns.

“Violence is part of the story. I like violence in movies. Movies are drama and the most dramatic expression of drama is violence.”