Mel Gibson stood over photographer with clenched fist after shoving her in the back

Actor and director Mel Gibson speaks at a press conference at Fox Studios in Sydney on July 30, 2015. Gibson will direct a WWII drama called Hacksaw Ridge on location in Sydney and New South Wales wit

A newspaper photographer thought Mel Gibson was going to punch her in the face after he shoved her in the back and called her a "dog".

Kristi Miller said the actor lost it after she took a picture of him and his 24-year-old girlfriend, Rosalind Ross, outside an arthouse cinema in Sydney.

Miller told The Daily Telegraph - the paper she works for - that Gibson, 59, held a clenched fist over her, swearing loudly, and only stopped when Ross intervened.

"I took a photo of Mel and his girlfriend and when I turned around he shoved my back really hard. I thought he was going to punch me in the face. He was spitting in my face as he was yelling at me, calling me a dog, saying I'm not even a human being and I will go to hell. He swore and called me a c*** It was non-stop, he didn't even breathe.

"It was only when (Ross) grabbed his shoulder and said, 'that is enough' that he stopped. She said, 'I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry.'"

Gibson and Ross had been at Australian Israeli Film Festival at the Palace Verona Cinema in Sydney's upmarket suburb of Paddington.

The actor's publicist, Alan Nierob, denied Gibson had attacked the photographer. He told Daily Mail Australia: "The photographer was harassing Mr Gibson and his friend and they asked her to stop.

"No one shoved or spat at anyone. It's a complete lie. There was no physical altercation whatsoever.

"She [the photographer] was harassing them and was asked to stop. He did tell her to get a real job though."

NSW police are investigating the alleged incident with a spokeswoman telling news.com.au officers were looking into reports "a man became involved with an altercation with a photographer outside a cinema".

Gibson, who is currently filming the WWII drama Hacksaw Ridge in Australia, has been shunned in Hollywood since making a series of anti-Semitic remarks.

Kristi Miller said she thought Gibson was going to punch her in the face. Photo / Linkedin

In 2006, he was caught on tape shouting at a police officer who pulled him over for drink driving that Jews were responsible for all the wars in the world.

Gibson blamed the incident on his struggles with alcohol but in 2012 he was again accused of making hateful comments about Jewish people.

Screenwriter Joe Eszterhas said Gibson had called Jews "Hebes", "oven-dodgers" and "Jewboys" while they were while working together on a film project of the Maccabees revolt.