David Holmes and Daniel Radcliffe in “David Holmes: The Boy Who Lived”.Photo:Courtesy of HBO
Courtesy of HBO
Daniel Radcliffeis telling the powerful behind-the-scenes story of hisHarry Potterstunt double.
“I used to fly,” says Holmes in the documentary’s first moments. “Not so much anymore.”
“I wanted to make something about Dave for years because he’s extraordinary and I wanted to share that with the world,” Radcliffe, 34, tells PEOPLE.
“I was trying to do it myself,” the actor adds with a sheepish grin. “We shot some stuff and I didn’t really know what I was doing… For some reason, I thought I might know how to direct a documentary. I absolutely didn’t.”
Radcliffe and Holmes then turned to Dan Hartley, who worked as the video operator on theHarry Potterfilms, “because Dan’s an actual director,” says Radcliffe. With Hartley on board, they shifted the project’s focus from a broad look at stunt performers to just Holmes’ life before and after his accident.
David Holmes in “David Holmes: The Boy Who Lived”.Courtesy of HBO
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“We all met each other 23 years ago and that bond, thatfamily that we had onHarry Potter,really cemented over the decade that we filmed together,” Hartley says.
For Holmes,The Boy Who Livedproved an opportunity to collaborate again with “some members” of that clan, including producers Vanessa Davies and Amy Stares, originally thePotterfilms’ publicist and assistant director, respectively. “On this project, the family has been able to come back together again,” says Holmes, “to tell my story.”
That story hinges on the January 2009 accident in which the stunt performer, while test filming for the franchise’s final two installments, broke his neck while being propelled backward into a wall.
Now a wheelchair user — and host of theCunning Stuntspodcast— Holmes tells PEOPLE he’s “really honored that my legacy on film is not just me hitting that wall 14 years ago. And I’m understanding the responsibility that lies with not just representing [not just] myself, but a wider community of all the disabled people that will be absolutely finding parallels with their own life with my story.”
Daniel Radcliffe and David Holmes in “David Holmes: The Boy Who Lived”.HBO/YouTube
HBO/YouTube
He adds, however, that he has yet to seeThe Boy Who Livedhimself.
“I am not ready to watch it yet,” he explains, nodding to Radcliffe and Hartley. “I know that these guys have done an amazing job. I know that it was made with love and sensitivity, and that’s enough for me right now.”
When that day comes, Holmes says, he’ll be ready to see the era of his life depicted in the documentary. “I’d like to look back on myself with all the hope and optimism that I live with now," he shares.
“David Holmes: The Boy Who Lived”.Courtesy of HBO
Radcliffe says that the filmmaking team has “shown it to as many of Dave’s friends and family as we possibly can… I’m fairly confident we’ve done him proud.”
“Quite a lot of people that were high on that list were the people in my peer support group in the disabled community,” adds Holmes. “It was very important to me that disability is represented right along this journey.
“And knowing that I have a team of Avengers that are wheelchair users or people from all different aspects of the disability spectrum that have seen this thing and said, ‘No, it’s really empowering and it’s really positive and you’re going to do a good thing for the world,’ those opinions are the ones that matter to me.”
David Holmes: The Boy Who Livedpremieres on HBO and streams on Max Nov. 15.
source: people.com
