Daniel Radcliffe had beautiful response to people who saw his stunt double as 'person in a wheelchair'
Daniel Radcliffe said it's vital people don't see his former stuntman as a 'person in a wheelchair'.
The Harry Potter star once opened up about his relationship with the performer and his love for him. This is what he had to say:
David Holmes stood in for Radcliffe in the first six Potter movies, putting his body on the line to bring the most dangerous scenes to life.
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But sadly, while filming a scene in Deathly Hallows: Part 1, he fell to the ground in a bad way.
Holmes ended up being paralysed from the chest down and now lives his life in a wheelchair.
But because of the relationship they built up over their time working together, he and Radcliffe have remained very close.
Speaking previously about their friendship, the actor said he didn't want people to view Dave through the prism of his disability but as a person.
"I've got a relationship that goes back many, many years with Dave," Radcliffe said in the 2011 doc When Harry Left Hogwarts.
"And I would hate for people to just see that image of me and Dave, and go, 'Oh, there's Daniel Radcliffe with a person in a wheelchair', because I would never, even for a moment, want them to assume that Dave was anything except for an incredibly important person in my life."
This comes as it was revealed Radcliffe was working on a documentary about Dave.
The Sky and HBO film will chart his life before and after the accident and will be called David Holmes: The Boy Who Lived.
“Over the next 10 years, the two form an inextricable bond, but on the penultimate film a tragic accident on set leaves David paralysed with a debilitating spinal injury, turning his world upside down," a synopsis for the documentary says.
"As Daniel and his closest stunt colleagues rally to support David and his family in their moment of need, it is David’s extraordinary spirit of resilience that becomes their greatest source of strength and inspiration.”
The documentary will use 'candid personal footage shot over the last decade, behind-the-scenes material from Holmes’ stunt work, scenes of his current life and intimate interviews with David, Radcliffe, friends, family, and former crew'.
"The film also reflects universal themes of living with adversity, growing up, forging identities in an uncertain world, and the bonds that bind us together and lift us up," the statement added.
Radcliffe appeared on Holmes' podcast called Cunning Stunts and the two discussed how much stunt doubles go through on film and TV sets.
The Harry Potter star was amazed at how these performers pull off some of the things they're meant to do.
“I think there’s a myth around stuntmen that they are just superhuman in some way,” Radcliffe said.
“When the public see something really painful or horrible, they think it was a visual effect or that there’s some clever, safe way of doing it.
"Often that’s not the case."
David Holmes: The Boy Who Lived will premiere on 15 November.
Topics: UK News, TV and Film
Dominic Smithers