When filming the Harry Potter saga, David Holmes had one job: to be Daniel Radcliffe’s stunt double. Every time there was a dangerous scene or one that required great agility, he entered the scene. It was a role that he had since the first installment, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, filmed in 2000. But, during the filming of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part 1), the penultimate installment filmed in 2009, there was a accident during filming.
During rehearsals, after a simulated explosion, Holmes, who was restrained, had his ropes pulled. The problem is that, instead of hitting the mattresses installed on the set, the stunt was inaccurate, he hit the wall and broke his neck. Minutes later he realized the seriousness of the accident: he could move his hands but could not use them. His career as a stuntman and life as he knew it ended at that moment, having to assume that he was suffering from paralysis and that he would need a wheelchair.
Now, however, David Holmes is ready to be in the foreground and not as a replacement for Daniel Radcliffe. Sky and HBO Documentary Films are finalizing the production of David Holmes: The boy who lived, a documentary about the accident that changed his life, after having been a gymnast since childhood, which has Radcliffe himself as both executive producer and testimony of the documentary. And, after agreeing on filming and after the support offered after the accident, Holmes and Radcliffe maintain a friendship more than a decade after saying goodbye to the Hogwarts-trained wizard.
The television production, according to Sky, will show videos recorded by Holmes’ inner circle, images of the actor behind the cameras when he was still working as a stuntman, scenes from his daily routine and interviews with people in his close circle, from family to Radcliffe himself.
The objective is not to shed light on the accident that paralyzed him but to offer a first-person testimony of the life challenge he had to face, what the assimilation process was like and the personal relationships that have allowed him to overcome it. At the moment, David Holmes: The boy who lived has an airing date in the United Kingdom, where Sky will premiere the documentary on November 18.
