David Holmes was paralyzed while working as Daniel Radcliffe’s stunt double in Harry Potter: here is the documentary film about his story
David Holmes he was 26 years old when, working as the actor’s stunt double Daniel Radcliffe in the saga of Harry Potter, was the victim of a serious accident that caused a spinal injury and left him paralyzed. His story is told in the touching documentary David Holmes – The Boy Who Livedreleased a few months ago and now available streaming on NOW and on Sky on demand. Produced by Daniel Radcliffe, the documentary film aims to tell the story of the accident, but also themes such as the strength of friendship, resistance to adversity and personal growth.
How the David Holmes accident happened
The accident which David Holmes was the victim of occurred on 29 January 2009 at the Leavesden Film Studios in London, during the filming of the film Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1.
Holmes, born in London in 1983, was carrying out a test shoot which involved an aerial sequence immediately after a controlled explosion. It was the latter that unexpectedly damaged the safety harness Holmes was wearing, causing him to fall disastrously to the ground.
The boy, who remained conscious after the fall, immediately told the emergency services who arrived on set that he no longer felt his legs. Although it initially seemed that the risk of paralysis had been avoided, so much so that Holmes’ family had publicly thanked the doctors for this, in mid-March permanent tetraplegia Has been confirmed.
In a short excerpt from the documentary, visible below, it is proposed at the beginning a news report who breaks the news of the accident. A short shot is then shown depicting the very young Daniel and David talking while the latter is in the hospital bed.
The David Holmes Documentary: The Boy Who Lived
David Holmes – The Boy Who Lived (The Boy Who Lived is the original title of the documentary film) was released in November 2023.
In the documentary the story of Holmes it is told through unreleased videos, also filmed backstage. In addition to Holmes himself, who speaks at length and intimately about the story for the first time after years of silence, the docufilm makes use of the contributions of friends, family, former members of the crew and also Daniel Radcliffethe actor who played Harry Potter and who also plays the role of producer here.
In a short second excerpt from the documentary, visible below, the actor and the stuntman talk about how their respective jobs integrated on set and how they came out shoot the action scenes. “He did a lot of crazy things for me,” Radcliffe says of Holmes, “like falling off brooms during quidditch games.”
How to watch the documentary on David Holmes
David Holmes – The Boy Who Lived it lasts just under an hour and a half and is available streaming on NOW and on Sky on demand from 22 June 2024.
