Ratner accused

MOVIE producer and director Brett Ratner once horrified a model by masturbating as she sat next to him in a car, she told me.

The New York model — who said she doesn’t want to be named — said Ratner (inset), who also has a career as a still photographer, flew her to Los Angeles in 2008 for a shoot.

On the way to the location on the second day, the “Rush Hour” director was sitting next to the model in the back seat of a chauffeur-driven car with two assistants when he allegedly started masturbating. “I put my hands over my eyes and said, ‘Stop. That’s disgusting.’ But he wouldn’t stop,” the model said. “As he is finishing, his assistant in the front seat hands him tissues.” They arrived at the location, but the model said, “I was really uncomfortable. I never worked with him again.” Two friends of the model confirmed to me she told them about the incident shortly after it happened. She didn’t go to the police, and told me, “There was no crime. It was just really weird.” Ratner lawyer Lynda Goldman said, “Our client categorically denies this outrageous story.”

Goldman provided e-mails from two of Ratner’s then-assistants who said they were in the car that day and nothing untoward happened.

Ratner has had his images published in Vanity Fair and on the covers of Vogue Hommes and V-Life. In 2003, he and his friend Robert Evans published a book, “Hilhaven Lodge: The Photo Booth Pictures.”