News broke recently about an upcoming documentary film focused on David Holmes, a stunt performer who was injured on the set of the 2010 film Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part One, leaving him paralyzed from the chest down. Holmes spent years as the stunt double for Daniel Radcliffe on the Harry Potter films. Now Radcliffe is participating in the documentary The Boy Who Lived, which will tell the inspirational tale of Holmes’ recovery and successful life, post tragedy. A new trailer for the documentary was released recently, which we will include below. But as chance had it, Deathly Hallows director David Yates was a guest on our ReelBlend podcast the day that the documentary was announced, and we were able to get his thoughts on Holmes, Radcliffe, and the documentary.
Film director David Yates hopped into the Harry Potter series for the final four films, starting with 2007’s Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. He stayed in the Wizarding World for three Fantastic Beasts films, but is detouring into tough drama for the pill-pushing Netflix original Pain Hustlers. On the day he joined us, news of The Boy Who Lived hit the wire, so the ReelBlend hosts asked Yates to comment on David Holmes and his accident. The director lovingly remembered the stunt performer, telling our podcast:
David is an extraordinary man. Graceful, bright, and very loved in the community. And he was an amazing stuntman. Being a stuntman's an extraordinary job. And the people who do that generally are very committed. It takes years and years and years to train. You have to go through so many hoops and different disciplines – horse riding, swimming, gymnastics. It's a real trial to even get admitted into the union, to be able to do stunts.
David Holmes’ accident occurred while filming with the second unit. Yates remembers hearing about the accident, which involved a wire pull, over the walkie talkies on set. Holmes was rushed to a nearby hospital, but his paralysis couldn’t be avoided.
As Yates continued to remember David Holmes, he said:
It's been really, really difficult. Daniel has always been close to David, and has always supported him and been a good friend to him throughout those movies and subsequently. So I'm really looking forward to seeing the documentary. I think it'll be a hard watch. But David, in my experience – I've spoken to him two or three times in the last couple of years, and he came to the music recording on the last Beast film – he's just a really graceful, wise soul who has dealt with this tragic accident … in a really sort of inspiring way. Even though I know it's not been easy for him. But he's a remarkable, remarkable man. And I'm sure that the documentary's going to be not just a homage to him, but also to that profession, and the risks that they take for us to entertain us, to help us build our stories.
It’s terrific that Daniel Radcliffe is honoring the legacy of his friend and former stunt double, David Holmes. The Harry Potter series remains a formative film franchise for generations of audiences who have grown older with the actors, and no doubt want to hear more details about Holmes, his accident, and his road to recovery. Here’s the trailer that just arrived:
The Harry Potter story is set to resume when a television series takes a second crack at JK Rowlings’ novels. Of course, the movies are available to stream on Max at any given moment. And Davids Yates’ Pain Hustlers, with Emily Blunt and Chris Evans, is available on Netflix as we speak.
