Will Pike

He could have been a professional gymnast, but he liked the stunt life too much.

And his career has only just started.

I mean, like these stunt guys, man, they have probably one of the best lives in the movie industry.

These guys are the cool cats.

They're the fun kids.

If you want to go and have fun on a movie set, go and hang out with stunt crew.

And to see a guy whose whole life and future had been around his physicality, like my future wasn't based around my physicality.

Like...

Like, it was part of who I am, but it wasn't entrenched, like, in who I am.

Seeing him, seeing the way he dealt and managed and handled and took ownership of his spinal injury, watching how he dealt with rehab and occupational therapy, how he transferred out of bed in the morning with limited use of his shoulders, I feel like, OK, maybe I can...

Maybe I should brave the day.

Maybe I should not be wrapped up in self-pity.

The man Will is talking about is David Holmes.

He'd grown up in Leon C in Essex.

A daredevil of a child.

A competitive gymnast from the age of five.

The kind of kid whose mother signed him up for the local gymnastics club after she caught him jumping out of his bedroom window onto the trampoline in the garden.

That is the origin story of David Holmes.

His gymnastics coach was also a professional stunt performer.

And when a production company came looking for a body double for a film, his coach put his name forward.