VERNON, B.C. – Wearing a large black fedora, black sunglasses and tan coat, Nicolas Cage looked more like a disguised Hollywood celebrity than a local as he was spotted on a flight into Kelowna Sunday evening.
Melissa Locke reported the sighting to Global News Monday.
“We were on a flight home from Vancouver,” said Locke, recalling the chance encounter with the movie star.
Locke said she and her husband Erik weren’t able to sit together on the Air Canada flight from Vancouver to Kelowna, so they looked to approach someone and switch seats.
“We kind of looked at the two people and one guy was in huge glasses, hat, trench coat. He didn’t look too friendly,” Locke said, laughing. “So we asked the other guy.”
Her husband’s original seat in coach was directly beside Cage, but they were oblivious to who he was at the time.
“We sat down and we looked over and through the side profile of his glasses were like, ‘Oh my goodness. I think that’s Nicolas Cage,'” said Locke.
When Cage pulled out a script to read, the Lockes knew it was the Hollywood star for certain.
“We had seen a post online about him being in Osoyoos. So we’re like, it’s gotta be him.”
Locke discretely began taking photos and at one point made eye contact with Cage, believing he now knew his privacy was over.
But because it was Locke’s birthday, she was determined to make her day perfect. She followed him to the arrivals at the Kelowna Airport.
“I just got the guts up and walked up behind him and kind of startled him, actually, and just said, ‘Hey, it’s my birthday, can I get a quick picture?'”
Cage obliged and even let her take another one when he pointed out the first wasn’t all that great.
Locke said he didn’t stop long.
“He just said, ‘Happy Birthday.'”
Since posting on her Facebook page, the Cage sighting has garnered hundreds of comments.
Cage is filming The Humanity Project in the south Okanagan and Boundary country.
The 52-year-old actor was seen grocery shopping in Osoyoos Nov. 28.