The man who gave Daniel Radcliffe his most dangerous moments on screen is now stepping into the spotlight himself, and it sounds like something truly special.

A name every Potterhead should know

If you’ve seen the HBO/Sky documentary David Holmes: The Boy Who Lived (2023), you already know this story. If you haven’t, go watch it right now and come back.

For those who need a quick recap: David Holmes was Daniel Radcliffe’s stunt double throughout most of the Harry Potter saga. He was also one of Dan’s closest friends. In January 2009, during stunt tests on the set of Deathly Hallows: Part One at Leavesden Studios, he had an accident that left him paralyzed from the waist down. He was in his twenties. That’s the tragedy. But David’s story doesn’t stop there.

From documentary to the stage

David Holmes is developing a stage play based on his life, and it’s currently being workshopped at the Kiln Theatre in Kilburn, North West London, an Olivier Award-winning venue that’s been recently redesigned with accessibility at its heart (which feels very intentional and very right).

The show, titled The Boy Who Lived, taken from that very first chapter of The Philosopher’s Stone that we all know by heart is being produced by Paul Taylor-Mills. It’s adapted from both the documentary and a memoir Holmes wrote about his life before and after the accident. And the plan? For David to play himself on stage.

The play is being written and directed by Philip Wilson, a former artistic director of Salisbury Playhouse Theatre. A premiere at the Kiln is currently planned for summer 2027.

Not a pity story, far from it

What I love most about this project, from everything Taylor-Mills has shared, is the tone they’re going for. This isn’t a tragedy. This is something else entirely.

“It’s not pity porn, it’s about how when something so traumatic can happen in your life and then you still live and deal with it. He’s got this incredible very, very blue, very naughty sense of humour.”

Taylor-Mills describes it as “half stand-up comedy, half TED Talk“, which somehow makes perfect sense for someone who, after 17 years of pain and difficult operations, still approaches life with that kind of spirit. During the documentary, Holmes asked his family and friends something that I found profoundly moving: to “try and hope for me to be happy like I am, not happy like you want me to be.” That line alone tells you everything about who this person is.

There’s also a moment the producer keeps coming back to: when David’s mother Sue told him about the possibility of legal action after the accident, and his response was: “Why mum? My life’s been ruined, why would I want to ruin anyone else’s life?” Taylor-Mills called it “extraordinary wisdom and generosity of spirit.”

What the show will actually look like

From what we know, the production won’t just be David standing there and telling his story. There will be four actors around him: playing his parents, and a younger version of himself back when he was a gymnast-turned-stuntman, and there’ll be moments where he looks back at scenes from the Harry Potter films and talks about how some of those stunts were actually done.

Taylor-Mills described it as “much more interactive” than a traditional one-person show, and full of funny stories about how David lives today.

And what about Daniel Radcliffe?

Radcliffe was not just a subject of the documentary, he was an executive producer on it. Taylor-Mills described their bond as being “like brothers,” and said that Dan will receive a video of this week’s workshop “with a view that he’s hopefully involved” in the play too.

As for whether there’ll be a “Radcliffe character” in the show? The producer’s answer was a very diplomatic “TBC, TBC. Very much to be confirmed.” So we’ll have to wait and see, but the door is clearly open.

Source: Deadline.