At the gates of Casino Royale and the Ritz Hotel
Ladies and gentlemen, we’re placing bets. Last cards are dropping on the table, the suspense in the room is almost palpable. The Emperor’s Spa – aka Casino Royale – is the setting of the dramatic scene when 007 encounters the villain Le Chiffre. And it is also where Jackie Chan fulfilled his dream. In Shanghai Knights, the Emperor’s Spa building, which is now only partially accessible due to reconstruction, represented the famous Ritz Hotel in New York where the two protagonists meet at the beginning of the movie. And it was here that Jackie Chan fulfilled his lifelong dream – to shoot an action scene inside a glass revolving door. And what about James Bond? You can most certainly perceive the atmosphere of the sumptuous casino, smell the perfumes of beautiful ladies and feel the hard looks of veteran gamblers. It was here that Her Majesty’s agent played a high-stakes game that nearly cost him his life.