Yahoo Movies Daniel Radcliffe says he went into 'free fall' after Harry Potter ended but stuntman David Holmes helped him
The actor spoke candidly about his experiences in Sky documentary David Holmes: The Boy Who Lived
What did you miss?
Daniel Radcliffe has admitted he went into "free fall" after the Harry Potter film franchise ended, but it was thanks to his stunt double David Holmes that he was able to get through the experience.
Holmes, who is the subject of Sky documentary David Holmes: The Boy Who Lived, was partially paralysed after a stunt test for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows went wrong and he suffered a spinal injury after breaking his neck.
Speaking in the Sky documentary David Holmes: The Boy Who Lived, the actor shared: "Personally there was definitely a period where I didn't know what was important to me, because at that point I was not convinced myself about what my life would be after Potter.
"I've been doing this thing really consistently and I had all that structure, and then all of a sudden that was gone and I very quickly went into free fall.
"It was something that I talked to Dave about and he was, as he always had been, a really good guiding star in all of that. He said 'I'm not going to let you throw the opportunity you've got away'.
"There was something about seeing somebody have their career taken away from them involuntarily, and I realised that you cant get complacent and like 'yea I'll be in this industry forever', because Dave was a constant point of comparison, subconsciously at least, to know how random and fleeting everything could be."
What, how, and why?
David Holmes: The Boy Who Lived charts the the stunt performer's life, from the beginning of his career to his time on the Harry Potter films, the accident and its aftermath.
Radcliffe, as well as starring in the documentary, is an executive producer on the film as he was keen to share his friend's story with the world.
He also shared in the documentary that it was important to look back now because it took time for him and others weren't able to process what had happened to their friend.
"I never really thought of the implications of what that might feel like to him, I was not —it is probably an excuse and a cop out— but I was not equipped to have those thoughts at that time," Radcliffe said.
"But also I don't know if it would have helped, because it's taken so long to come to terms with what happened with Dave. We were right in the middle of it then so we were still working out how we felt about this."
Holmes spoke to Yahoo UK about Radcliffe's comments about how he'd helped him when he was in "free fall", saying: "I remember He wasn't in the best of places at the Time, and I Remember having a word with him when he came to visit Me at hospital.
"I was just like, 'look, I'm worried. Just look after yourself, you've got a duty to me as a friend but also yourself to look after yourself through this. You're under an extreme amount of pressure and give yourself a bit of a break. But give yourself a break in the right ways.'
"And I'm guessing that probably stuck because he's in, and has been, in the best place for years now, and now you can just see someone that is passionate about telling stories and working with the best directors."
Holmes adds: "It's nothing but lovely things I've got to say about one of my best friends. He's a truly marvellous man, I'm very thankful to have him."
What else happened on David Holmes: The Boy Who Lived?
It wasn't just Radcliffe and Holmes who spoke about their experiences on the film and in the aftermath of the stunt performer's accident, the film franchise's stunt coordinator Greg Powell also reflected on it and his guilt around how the test went wrong.
Powell said: "Seeing him really pains me, it really does. I do struggle, I hate it knowing as he was, climbing and jumping."
After reuniting with Holmes for the documentary, Powell told the film's director: "I hate seeing him like that, in the nicest way I wish I'd never met him when I see him like that because he wouldn't have been like that if hadn't met me. I was the last one to touch him when he could walk and the first one to touch him when he couldn't walk, and that's an awful feeling."
When asked by director Dan Hartley if he could "cut himself some slack" and see it as an accident, Powell added: "I try to, I still blame myself because I was there. But he still talks to me, he still loves me I think, so that's the main thing.
David Holmes: The Boy Who Lived is available on Sky and NOW.
