Daniel Radcliffe behind documentary about his double paralyzed in an accident on the set of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

A documentary produced by Daniel Radcliffe will soon be released on HBO.

The project tells the tragic story of a young stuntman left paralyzed in a terrible filming accident on the set of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1.

Daniel Radcliffe is executive-producing a new documentary spotlighting his former Harry Potter stunt double, David Holmes, who was left paralyzed after an accident occurred on the set of Deathly Hallows: Part 1. https://t.co/J5TiHx3a6d pic.twitter.com/UWDNdWaFZt

— IGN (@IGN) October 25, 2023

The documentary David Holmes: The Boy Who Lived , produced by HBO Documentary Films and Sky, recounts the events that completely changed the young stuntman’s life in 2009, when he was the understudy assigned to Daniel Radcliffe for his role as Harry Potter, and had been since the very first film in the saga.

The accident occurred while David Holmes was rehearsing a scene at the Warner Bros studios in Leavesden. Although he was to have been pulled backwards at high speed during a stunt to reproduce the effects of an explosion, Holmes was instead thrown against a wall.

Holmes immediately broke his neck.

Happy to finally be able to talk about this documentary project he’d been keeping secret for a long time, David Holmes commented on the news on Instagram:

“In January 2009, I had an accident during a stunt rehearsal that changed my life forever.”

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A post shared by David Holmes (@davidholmes83)

“Being a stuntman was my calling in life, and doubling Harry was the best job in the world,” adds Holmes, who has had to overcome many challenges since this life-changing event.

In particular, Holmes explains that he wouldn’t have overcome any of it without the people around him, including several members of the Harry Potter saga cast including Matthew Lewis (Neville Longbottom) and Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy).