Daniel Radcliffe on Paying Tribute to Paralyzed Harry Potter Stunt Double in New Doc: ‘He’s Extraordinary’ (Exclusive)

Daniel Radcliffe tells his powerful behind-the-scenes story Harry Potter doubler.

David Holmes, who performed the franchise’s stunts until an on-set spinal injury left him paralyzed from the chest down, is the subject of a new HBO documentary produced by longtime friend Radcliffe. David Holmes: The Boy Who Lived (debuting Nov. 15 and available to stream on Max) opens with footage of the stuntman, now 42, spinning in mid-air on Harry’s broom and dodging explosive dragon fire.

“I used to fly,” Holmes says in the opening moments of the documentary. “Not so much anymore.”

“I’ve wanted to do something about Dave for years because he’s amazing and I wanted to share that with the world,” Radcliffe, 34, tells PEOPLE.

“I was trying to do it myself,” the actor adds with a shy smile. “We were filming some stuff and I didn’t really know what I was doing… For some reason I thought I could direct a documentary. Absolutely not.”

Radcliffe and Holmes then turned to Dan Hartley, who worked as a video operator on the Harry Potter movies, “because Dan is an actual director,” says Radcliffe. With Hartley on board, they shifted the focus of the project from a broad look at the stunts to just Holmes’ life before and after the accident.

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David Holmes in “David Holmes: The Boy Who Lived”.

Courtesy of HBO

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“We all met 23 years ago and that relationship, that family we had Harry Potter, really cemented over the decades we’ve been recording together,” says Hartley.

For Holmes, The boy who lived indicated the opportunity to work again with “some members” of that clan, including producers Vanessa Davies and Amy Stares, originally Potter film publicist and assistant director. “On this project, the family came together again,” says Holmes, “to tell my story.”

That story hinges on an accident in January 2009 in which a stuntman, during test shoots for the final two installments of the franchise, broke his neck while being thrown backwards into a wall.

Now a wheelchair user — and a host Tricky stunts podcast — Holmes tells PEOPLE that he is “really honored that my legacy on film is not just that I hit a wall 14 years ago. And I understand the responsibility that lies in not only presenting [not just] me, but the wider community of all people with disabilities who will absolutely find parallels with their own lives through my story.”

Daniel Radcliffe and David Holmes in the film “David Holmes: The Boy Who Lived”.

HBO/YouTube

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He adds, however, that he will see The boy who lived himself.

“I’m not ready to watch it yet,” he explains, nodding to Radcliffe and Hartley. “I know these guys have done an amazing job. I know it was made with love and feeling and that’s enough for me now.”

Holmes has spent years on what he calls a “neurological journey” since his accident, in and out of the hospital and in physical therapy for complications from his first spinal surgery. “I used film and TV and storytelling to get through it,” he says. “I know that there will come a time in my life when I will go to bed and not come out.”

When that day comes, Holmes says, he’ll be ready to see a period of his life portrayed in a documentary. “I would like to look back on myself with all the hope and optimism I live with now,” he shares.

“David Holmes: The Boy Who Lived”.

Courtesy of HBO

Look at the actors and their stunt doubles, side by side

Radcliffe says the film crew “showed it to as many of Dave’s friends and family as possible… I’m pretty confident we did him proud.”

“A lot of the people who were high on that list were people from my peer support group in the disability community,” adds Holmes. “It was very important to me that disability be represented on this trip.

“And knowing that I have a team of Avengers who are wheelchair users or people from all different aspects of the disability spectrum who saw this thing and said, ‘No, it’s really empowering and it’s really positive and you’re going to do a good thing for the world, those opinions are important to me.”

David Holmes: The Boy Who Lived premieres on HBO and airs November 15.

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