Watch Jared Harris in SHADOWMAGIC , excellent indie movie

I'm an advocate of, "Honesty is the Best Policy". For this occasion, I wouldn't mind Jared Harris simply saying that he is 6 feet tall. Stating that he's 5'11.75" tall is probably not necessary. Maybe on the planet Vulcan you would need to be that precise. Listen, anytime the man wears shoes, he'll be over the magic 6 feet mark. The only time you'd ever see this man is in public anyway when he's dressed.
By the way, I was highly impressed by Jared Harris' performance in the little-known, underappreciated, but highly acclaimed, SHADOWMAGIC (2000). There's history and entertainment interwoven, led by Harris' excellent acting ability. In the movie, he shows up in Peking, China (1900), when Beijing the capital was still called, Peking. He is an impoverished Englishman who decided that he can find honest, legitimate success and wealth by entertaining the local Chinese to the introduction of the new-fangled motion-picture cinema theater. The way that the first motion picture camera was set up and operated is a historical eye-opener and informative, given that it relied on a risky chemical reaction of compounds to generate the power and light for the movie projector. It's not explained why Harris' character felt he had to leave England and set up a theater in Peking but I assume that in 1900 Peking was a virgin cinema market with no competitors. The Chinese hadn't even heard of this Western invention. They were already well-acquainted with the photograph camera and cameras but that was as far as that film media went. Harris' character meets with little initial success until a chance encounter with his first customer, a wide-eyed, imaginative young man who works in the local photography shop and is therefore already attuned to invention and innovation. The young man proves to be an invaluable link to the Chinese population and soon people are streaming into the theater to be absolutely amazed by the moving pictures. The young Chinese man becomes Harris' partner and in fact introduces an innovation, playing background music on one of the new-fangled phonographs that play the new flat disc record while the movie plays. Harris character is on his way to fame and fortune when he is invited to the Manchu palace for a demonstration. Delighted, his motion picture camera is thrilling the dowager empress and her attendants when the unstable chemical reactant pot blows up. While no one was injured, the Manchu court is deeply offended. They don't want to risk antagonizing the British government so in the end all they do to Harris is deport him back to England. But in the end, Harris has introduced motion picture cinema to China and his young Chinese partner and disciple has learned everything about the new technology and is prepared to carry on the new invention which will change entertainment technology in China for good.