©Jonathan Ikemura via Unsplash
David Holmes, the British stuntman who for years was Daniel Radcliffe's double in the Harry Potter films, was paralyzed for life during the 2009 filming of the film adaptation of the seventh Harry Potter book. He is currently turning his remarkable life story into an inspirational play.
The tragedy that completely changed the life of Harry Potter's stuntman occurred during rehearsals for the film "Harry Potter and the Relics of Death: Part 1." Holmes, then 25, was flying out of a slingshot - a stunt he mastered perfectly - but landed wrong. He broke his neck and was paralyzed from the chest down. "I knew immediately: this is the end of my career," he later said of this fateful accident on set.
David Holmes and Daniel Radcliffe have a close relationship, which began soon after they started their collaboration in 2000 on the first film about the Sorcerer's Apprentice. Over the years, the friendship itself grew into a brotherly bond. Naturally, Radcliffe was also heavily impressed by the accident of his stuntman and close friend. It only made their friendship stronger. Daniel Radcliffe produced the BAFTA-nominated documentary "David Holmes: The Boy Who Lived" (2023), with intimate footage of their lives afterward. The documentary was released by HBO Max in 2023.
Holmes also poured his memoirs into a book in 2024, "The Boy Who Lived: When Magic and Reality Collide," a raw account from stunt glory to his life in a wheelchair. Also featuring a riveting foreword by Daniel Radcliffe, the book brought hilarious set anecdotes and lessons about resilience. And so a play will now follow, in which the 45-year-old Holmes will presumably star himself. The play is set to premiere in London in the summer of 2027.
"I lost my body, but regained my life through friendship," David Holmes courageously sums up. And, by the way, the accident didn't mean the end of the collaboration. Indeed, earlier this year Holmes lent his voice to the audiobook "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban," which was released in January.
©Jonathan Ikemura via Unsplash