How to understand "stunt double" in this context?
Read an old news, and got confused by the phrase "stunt double". Here's the context:

"Although neither he or the president landed any knock-out blows, Mr Romney appeared both more relaxed and more focused; the president seemed listless, rambled in his answers and seemed unable to make the case for his own re-election. One usually well-disposed analyst wondered whehter a stunt double had been sent in his place. Mr. Romney needed a victory..."

Thank you.

Question

How to understand "stunt double" in this context?
Read an old news, and got confused by the phrase "stunt double". Here's the context:

"Although neither he or the president landed any knock-out blows, Mr Romney appeared both more relaxed and more focused; the president seemed listless, rambled in his answers and seemed unable to make the case for his own re-election. One usually well-disposed analyst wondered whehter a stunt double had been sent in his place. Mr. Romney needed a victory..."

Thank you.

Answer

A stunt double is a person in a movie who does the "stunts," or dangerous action, while pretending to be the main actor.  So when, for example, Bruce Willis is in a fight scene, it is probably really a man dressed like Bruce Willis who is the same height and weight, with the same kind of hair, etc., who is really doing the fighting on the screen.  This is done to protect the main actor: if Bruce Willis gets hurt filming a fight scene, the movie will have to stop filming and wait for him to recover, which is very expensive.

The political story was making a "joke" that Obama was not the real Obama in the first debate, and so maybe someone was acting as his stunt double.

Answers · 2

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