Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone will go down in history as the biggest action stars of the century and probably also as the best rivalry that Hollywood has ever witnessed. Although the iconic duo now are very close friends now, things were quite different back in the 80s.
Both the stars have opened up about their rivalry period over the years after they became friends. Arnold Schwarzenegger also once opened up about his rivalry with Sylvester Stallone on Jimmy Kimmel Live and revealed that it was an ‘all-out war‘ between the 2 legendary actors.
Arnold Schwarzenegger talks about his fierce rivalry with Sylvester Stallone back in the 80s
Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone were the biggest action stars back in the 80s and naturally, since they both were so great at what they did, they became rivals. Schwarzenegger once revealed in an interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live how the competition was fierce between the 2 stars that it was an absolute ‘all-out war‘. He said,
“In the 80s, he was just a rival. It was just competition, it was all about ‘Who is making bigger movies? Who has what definition in their muscles? Who has more box office success? Who kills more people? Who kills people more creatively? Who has bigger knives? Who has bigger guns?’ In the end, I started running around with machine guns that were only used for helicopters, mounting on helicopters or on tanks. It was crazy, it was an all-out war.”
However, as the actors’ stardom started to decline in the 90s, Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger became the closest of friends.
The Rocky actor talks about how his friendship with Arnold Schwarzenegger helped his career
Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger have both been vocal about how their rivalry pushed both of them forward to become better actors and the First Blood actor talked about the same in an interview with Entertainment Tonight. Stallone said,
“I try to find laughs when they’re not in abundance. Sometimes it gets a little irritating and people tell me, shut up. It’s like with me and Arnold. We have this caustic sense of humor, and we go at each other nonstop. I almost covet a good enemy. He really brings out the best of you.
[Back in the day], we couldn’t breathe the same air. But that made us work harder. And then we eventually realized we’re pretty much cut from the same cloth — even though his cloth is more like itchy wool. I’m like silk.”
Arnold Schwarzenegger once also talked about how he tricked Sylvester Stallone into playing the role of Sergeant Joseph Andrew in Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot movie which was both a critical and commercial failure at the box office.