Daniel Radcliffe has reunited with his former Harry Potter stunt double David Holmes for a new documentary about David’s life, after he suffered an on-set accident that left him paralysed.
David was Daniel’s stunt double from the very beginning of Harry’s journey in 2001’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, and the duo worked closely together for the next decade on the films.
However in 2010, David broke his neck and suffered severe spinal injuries while performing a stunt for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part One.
The young stuntman was left paralysed from the chest down from his injuries.
Now HBO has commissioned a documentary that revisits this period of the now 42-year-old’s life, before and after his accident, as well as his work with Daniel in the adaptations of these best-selling novels.
The documentary titled, David Holmes: The Boy Who Lived, has been described as a “coming-of-age story” in the official synopsis, that offers a snapshot of that decade of the stuntman’s life from “a prodigious teenage gymnast from Essex, England, who is selected to play Daniel Radcliffe’s stunt double in the first Harry Potter film, when Daniel is just 11.”
It continues: “Over the next 10 years, the two form an inextricable bond, but on the penultimate film a tragic accident on set leaves David paralysed with a debilitating spinal injury, turning his world upside down.
“As Daniel and his closest stunt colleagues rally to support David and his family in their moment of need, it is David’s extraordinary spirit of resilience that becomes their greatest source of strength and inspiration.”
It will feature “candid personal footage shot over the last decade, behind-the-scenes material from Holmes’ stunt work, scenes of his current life and intimate interviews with David, Radcliffe, friends, family, and former crew.
“The film also reflects universal themes of living with adversity, growing up, forging identities in an uncertain world, and the bonds that bind us together and lift us up.”
Since then, the duo have stayed in touch and even launched a podcast together in 2020, Cunning Stunts, to debunk the myths and share the “amazing work” of stunt actors in the industry.
At the time, Daniel explained: “I think there’s a myth around stuntmen that they are just superhuman in some way.
“When the public see something really painful or horrible, they think it was a visual effect or that there’s some clever, safe way of doing it. Often that’s not the case.
He added: “There’s no way of faking, for example, falling down stairs. When you get hit by a car, you’re still getting hit by a car, even if it’s going slower than it would. They find the safest way of doing it, but it can still hurt.”
David Holmes: The Boy Who Lived will be available to watch on Sky Documentaries and stream on NOW on November 18.