Alchemy Tavern bartender Joelle Rosen is an extra in the Nic Cage thriller "Tokarev." (Tamara Ikenberg/tikenberg@al.com)

--On Wednesday, local artist

had a close encounter of the

kind on the set of

"His handshake felt like pure ecstasy, as you can imagine a celebrity hand shake feels," she said.

Gafford was also struck by the way Cage released her inner paparazzo.

"I've never found myself to be a person that obsesses over celebrities, but since they filmed scenes directly in front of my apartment (on Jackson St.) all day today, I decided to be nosy and get a few photos of Nic," she said. "I felt like a stalker taking so many photos of a stranger. A bit dirty, really."

Gafford observed two scenes being filmed. In one, Cage appeared to be making a shady deal in a parking lot. The other was a shooting/chase sequence.

When the shoot concluded, Gafford said Cage approached the gathering of onlookers, said some nice words and shook several hands.

"Nic was very nice towards his sweaty, obnoxious fans," Gafford said.

Said fans were sweaty because of the oppressive heat.

"I really hurt for the crew of 'Tokarev,' considering they decided to film in the midst of Mobile's nastiest time of year," Gafford said. "And of course, you can't have a Nicolas Cage action film without leather jackets, so the "Tokarev" celebrities are suffering for fashion this month."

Please send your Cagespotting pics and stories to tikenberg@al.com.