MOBILE, Alabama — The city’s “Hollywood fever” keeps building as filmmakers continue shooting the drama “Tokarev” in and around the downtown. The film stars Oscar-winner Nicolas Cage as a reformed criminal trying to retrieve his daughter from the Russian mob, as well as stars Danny Glover and Peter Stormare.
Cage sightings have been high on the list of downtowners looking to spice up their routines, although the first publicly shared viewing of Cage in the community came from Daphne on June 6, where he was spotted shopping at the Fresh Market in the Jubilee Square shopping center
On Saturday, June 8, DeTonti Square residents Clay and Melissa Rankin spotted Cage near the rooftop swimming pool at the Battle House Hotel, while they were swimming with their two children.
In this photograph, shared by Fox10 News, actor Nicolas Cage is seen shopping at the Fresh Market in Daphne. (Courtesy Fox10 News)
Melissa Rankin said she “could have touched” Cage when he entered the pool area with an Asian woman and young boy, who she believed were his wife, Alice Kim, and son, Kal-El. No confirmation was available as to whether they were his family or not.
Wearing grey pants and a grey Hawaiian shirt, Cage sat down and shortly thereafter began “demonstrably” speaking “at” the woman, which led her to think the two might have been having a spat. Then her husband pointed out what was actually going on, Rankin said.
“Clay kindly educated me . . . saying that he was practicing his lines,” she said. Turns out, the woman was holding a script and Cage was rehearsing.
Exhibiting her skills as a novice community reporter, Rankin then did two things that helped make this report possible: she asked a young lady named Rebecca Sisson, who had taken a picture of Cage, to send it to her via text message; and she inquired from a waitress what he had ordered.
What was on the drink menu for Cage and his entourage?
“A mojito and a club soda,” Rankin said.
She went on to say that it seemed that everyone at the pool recognized the actor, but “everyone was respectful.”
On Monday, the production was filming in the old Gayfers Department Store downtown, and on Tuesday, a car will be filmed being blown up near the Mobile Convention Center, according to the Mobile Film Office.
Anyone who would like to share their sightings of Nicolas Cage, or any other stars of “Tokarev” out and about in the Mobile area, please send them to [email protected]. Pictures are welcome, as well.
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This post was updated to correct the name of the Battle House Hotel and to identify the “young lady” who took the picture of Cage there.