Superman actor Henry Cavill is in New Zealand filming part of Mission: Impossible 6. Photo / Supplied
Superman actor Henry Cavill is in New Zealand filming part of Mission: Impossible 6. Photo / Supplied
Spending an hour drinking beers with Superman actor Henry Cavill is an experience most would leap at - and one that two Hastings residents enjoyed at the weekend.
But unfortunately for Hastings District Councillor Damon Harvey, he had not realised who he was sharing sips of his Emerson's Pilsner with.
The British actor is in New Zealand filming part of Mission: Impossible 6. Mr Harvey was in the South Island scoping out mountainbiking facilities to improve Hawke's Bay's, with Snow Wilkins managing director Tim Wilkins.
Sunday afternoon saw the three meet at Atlas Beer Cafe near the Queenstown waterfront.
Mr Harvey and Mr Wilkins had befriended a group of film crew at the bar - including two-time Academy Award winning British sound engineer Chris Munro - who bought the pair drinks and invited them out to dinner.
"Then this other person turned up and they introduced [him to us] as 'this is Superman'," Mr Harvey said. "I went 'oh yeah right', I didn't think too much of it".
"I said 'this is an Emerson's Pilsner do you want to have a taste of it'. So he had a taste of my beer and he said, 'yep I like that one, I'll have that beer'."
Although it has since been pointed out to Mr Harvey that he shared an ale with the famous actor, at the time he "didn't even click".
Hastings councillor Damon Harvey
Even after spending about an hour drinking, and chatting with Cavill and the crew, Mr Harvey said he did not realise until the group - minus Cavill - moved on to nearby restaurant Public.
He has seen some of Cavill's films, but said he hadn't recognised the actor as he looked different in a beanie, and without the "clean-shaven" look of Superman.
"He was incredibly down to earth and unassuming, you would not have known and that's why I suppose I didn't really click," Mr Harvey said. "He was just one of five of us having a beer and having a chat and no one was making a fuss about him, he just turned up by himself.
"I would have clicked if there were other people asking for a photo with him... but that just didn't happen."
Mr Wilkins - of Snow Wilkins Valuer - said he spent about an hour chatting with Cavill, who had "shouted me a beer".
"I knew he was an actor but it didn't phase me, I still treated him the same," he said. "We were just having a couple of beers, he was a very nice guy, and I was giving him a bit of stick.
"If I'd known he was Superman I would have asked him to put his cape on."
Now back in Hawke's Bay, the councillor was still kicking himself over "the lost opportunity of having a good yarn with him".
"It was a pretty surreal experience. Well it wasn't even that, it was actually the fact that I didn't even click it was him," he said.
"I was annoyed because being a journo myself it would have been really cool to... ask a lot of questions about the industry and all of that sort of stuff. It would have been pretty cool."
Although he did not get to question Cavill about the film industry, Mr Harvey was able to probe the crew members over a bottle of Hawke's Bay's own Craggy Range Syrah during dinner, and did not miss the opportunity to invite them to visit the region.
