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Back in 2009, David Holmes — who served as Daniel Radcliffe’s stunt double in the first six Harry Potter movies, suffered a tragic accident on set that left him paralyzed. Holmes has now written about the experience and rediscovering life after his injury in a book, The Boy Who Lived: When Magic and Reality Collide. Fellow Harry Potter star Emma Watson picked up a copy and shared her emotional reaction to his words, saying in a heartfelt review that she hasn’t stopped crying.
The Boy Who Lived was released in November and features a foreword by Daniel Radcliffe, who has remained close with David Holmes. Emma Watson — aka Hermione Granger in the beloved films — raved about the book on her Instagram Stories, writing:
I’ve just finished reading Dan’s foreword and David Holmes beautiful book ‘The Boy who lived’ and have not stopped crying (couple of good laughs in there too of course because it’s David 💜💜) but if you want to read something this Christmas that gives a bit of insight into the behind the scenes of making a film like Harry Potter but also the deeply human journey of what it’s like to find our place and meaning in the world when life tests us…. David’s book is a beautiful one. Congratulations dear David. We love you xxx Emma
The accident that forever changed David Holmes’ life happened during the filming of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1. The stunt double was instantly paralyzed from the chest down in a stunt testing accident. In 2023 he and Daniel Radcliffe starred in a similarly titled documentary David Holmes: The Boy Who Lived (available to stream with a Max subscription) about their enduring friendship.
It seems David Holmes has remained close with Emma Watson and other members of the cast as well, despite it being more than a decade since the final movie came out. He gushed over the actress on his own Instagram following her sweet review, even hilariously revealing that he once doubled as Hermione in one of the movies:
Fans have enjoyed watching the stars of the movie react to their life-changing childhood jobs as the years pass. Lots of other fun behind-the-scenes stories, videos and pics like the one above have come out over the years, including a pretty great one from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in which it seems Robert Pattinson couldn’t remember Emma Watson’s name, prompting her to call him “just plain rude!” She has also shared another memory from that movie that caused some extreme discomfort and probably just as much frustration.
The Harry Potter cast members will always be remembered for those roles, and that seems especially true for David Holmes. It’s great to see his former colleagues continuing to support him through his journey all these years later.