Alec Baldwin and the producers of the movie Rust are being sued over the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

Ms Hutchins died last month after Baldwin accidentally shot her with a live bullet during filming.

The film’s Head of Lighting Serge Svetnoy is now suing producers - claiming the live round only narrowly missed him.

Mr Svetnoy who was a friend of MS Hutchins and says he held her in his arms as she was dying is claiming “severe emotional distress” due to the accident.

His lawyer Gary Dordick said the ordeal was emotionally scarring.

“Mr Svetnoy suffered tremendous emotional distress,” he said.

“Even though he was only hit with bullet fragments, his dear friend laid in his arms, her blood on his hands, dying.”

The lawsuit also claims that the scene being rehearsed did not actually require Baldwin to pull the trigger.

It claims that Baldwin had a duty to double-check the revolver was not carrying live ammunition and, if it was, to refrain from pointing it at anyone.

In a previous post on Facebook Mr Svetnoy blamed Ms Hutchins’ death on "negligence and unprofessionalism" and suggested that producers had hired an inexperienced armourer.

"The negligence from the person who was supposed to check the weapon on the site did not do this,” he said. “The person who had to announce that the loaded gun was on the site did not do this.”

“The person who should have checked this weapon before bringing it to the set did not do it. And the death of the human is the result.”

The action is a ‘general-negligence complaint’ naming Baldwin and the films other producers, including armourer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed.

"When you have millionaire and multimillionaire producers putting their money and their profits before safety and human life, that must be punished, that must be stopped," said Mr Dordick.

In a statement, Rust Productions said the safety of cast and crew is the producers’ top priority and an internal review of procedures is underway.

With reporting from IRN