During the 1980s, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone became two of Hollywood’s most bankable action movie stars.
The rivalry-turned-friendship between the Emmy winner and the Oscar nominee has seen its ups and downs.
Credit: Getty
What happened between Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone?
According to Sylvester Stallone, his feud with Arnold Schwarzenegger started at the 1977 Golden Globe Awards.
That year, Sylvester was nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama for his role as Rocky.
Meanwhile, Arnold was nominated New Star of the Year – Actor for his role in Stay Hungry.
“I came face to face with him the night of the Golden Globes,” the Guardians of the Galaxy alum recalled to Variety.
“He’s at the table and I don’t know who he is, this big guy.
“Then he goes, ‘I’m Arnold Schwarzenegger, new talent of the year.’
“I go, ‘Excuse me?’ So he’s gloating and gloating and gloating and finally, it’s time for Rocky.”
Sylvester went on to remember how when Rocky won Best Picture, he “grabbed a giant bowl of flowers and heaved it in his [Arnold’s] direction.”
“This began a 10-year battle royale. I mean, we couldn’t stand to be in the same galaxy.”
While Sylvester and Arnold’s feud continued into the 1980s, the latter explained to The Graham Norton Show via NME: “We were movie rivals, but we took the competitiveness to the extreme.
“We each had to have the best body, we had to kill more people in our films, and we had to have the biggest guns.
“It got out of control and we tried to derail each other.”
In subsequent years, the two stars continued to trade jabs at one another.
Sylvester Stallone called Tulsa King extras ‘ugly and fat,’ casting director claims as she quit following insults
When did Arnold and Sylvester become friends?
In the early 1990s, Arnold and Sylvester settled their differences after becoming investors in the Planet Hollywood restaurant chain.
The former confirmed to the abovementioned outlet: “Then when we both invested in Planet Hollywood, we started flying around the world together to promote it, and we became fantastic friends.
Credit: Getty
“He [Sylvester] is a great human being and we are now inseparable.
“Now, we look back and we laugh at the whole thing.”
Since the two made amends, they’ve praised each other several times.
While discussing their past feud in Sylvester’s eponymous Netflix documentary, Arnold admitted: “We were like little kids.
“Sly, all of a sudden with Rambo, he stepped into my arena.
“All of a sudden he was ripped with muscles and everyone [was] talking about his body.
“So that created competition, of course…I was always trailing Sly, I was always a step behind.”
Sylvester echoed similar sentiments and shared with Forbes: “He [Arnold] just had all the answers.
“He had the body. He had the strength. That was his character.
“We really disliked each other immensely because we were…this may sound a little vain, but I think we were pioneering a kind of genre at that time and it hasn’t been seen since really.
“So the competition…because it’s his nature, he is very competitive and so am I.
“I just thought it actually helped, but off-screen we were still competitive and that was not a healthy thing at all, but we’ve become really good friends.”
The former rivals have co-starred in four films, including The Expendables franchise and Escape Plan.
How can I watch Arnold & Sly: Rivals, Friends, Icons?
On April 23, 2024, their feud is revisited in Arnold & Sly: Rivals, Friends, Icons.
That Tuesday at 8 pm, the documentary premieres via Fox.