Hollywood superstar Jason Statham is living it up in a $20 million harbourside house while filming a new movie in New Zealand, the Herald on Sunday can reveal.
Statham, well-known for a string of hit action flicks including The Transporter, Fast 8, Furious 7 and Snatch, is renting the five-bedroom mansion in Westmere, Auckland, while shooting killer shark film Meg.
The actor was spotted nipping out to a neighbourhood cafe in Westmere this morning.
Looking fit, toned, and decked out in a skin-tight Nike sports outfit, the 49-year-old popped in to Catroux for a 9am coffee.
Staff said he had been dropping in to the eatery most mornings for a takeaway caffeine fix.
"Because he was wearing a beanie no one recognised him at first," a female staff member said. "He is always really nice and chatty and I think a few of the girls wouldn't mind his phone number, never mind a selfie."
It is believed Statham has been staying at the luxury property for more than a week. The edgy modernist Westmere house - once visited by Prince Albert of Monaco and his glamorous wife Princess Charlene - has a price tag of $20m. It is owned by rich-list couple Tenby Powell and Sharon Hunter.
The house, designed by architect David Ponting of Ponting Fitzgerald, has big entertaining areas, floor-to-ceiling glazing and an infinity swimming pool which visually merges with the sea.
It boasts an outdoor dining area with sleek designer furniture to match the house and a big oblong-shaped fireplace.
It also has what has been described as "the ultimate underground man cave", with a bar, huge television screen and pool table.
The house sits on a waterfront section of more than quarter of an acre, sprawling across two sites.
"I haven't seen another property like it, it is pretty phenomenal," Wall said. "It is said to have been the biggest in-situ concrete pour in Auckland at the time it was built."