Arnold Schwarzenegger Hilariously Confirms A Decades-Old Rumor About His Rivalry With Sylvester Stallone
Sylvester Stallone's comedy movie career was rather short-lived. According to JoBlo, there are three main comedies that Stallone did in the 1990s: "Oscar," "Rhinestone," and "Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot." JoBlo argues that, while all three films were flops and Stallone would avoid comedies for some time after his third box office failure, "Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot," the first two comedies he made, "Oscar" and "Rhinestone," are actually quite good.
"Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot" was both a box office bomb and a critical failure. Currently, the movie holds a 14% score on Rotten Tomatoes, with an audience score of 21%. In the review of the film by Roger Ebert, the late, beloved movie critic said, "'Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot' is one of those movies so dimwitted, so utterly lacking in even the smallest morsel of redeeming value, that you stare at the screen in stunned disbelief. It is moronic beyond comprehension, an exercise in desperation during which even Sylvester Stallone, a repository of self-confidence, seems to be disheartened." Ebert, never one to hold back when he disliked a movie, seemed to really hate this one.
According to Hyper Real Film Club, there's an old legend that supposedly Arnold Schwarzenegger read the script for the film and hated it but pretended to be interested in the movie in an attempt to trick his rival, Sylvester Stallone, into signing on for a film that Schwarzenegger knew would be an utter disaster. But how much truth is there to that rumor?
Arnold Schwarzenegger tricked Sylvester Stallone on purpose
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Sylvester Stallone brought up the long-time rumor that Arnold Schwarzenegger had tricked him into doing the much-hated film. THR thought it prudent to reach out to Schwarzenegger to see if he would confirm or deny the Hollywood urban legend, and Schwarzenegger said, "It's 100% true." The "Terminator" star went on to say, "In those days we did all kinds of crazy things to get ahead in our rivalry. Luckily for us and everyone else, today, we root for each other. Thank God, because we sure don't ever need another Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot." It's good to see that the actors no longer compete as they used to in the '90s.
In the same interview, Stallone explained why he thought the movie didn't work, saying that the mother was supposed to be a "nasty piece of work" like in the film "Throw Momma From the Train," but the filmmakers cast Estelle Getty, who was far too sweet to be the kind of mother that the script called for.
In an appearance on "The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon," the "Rocky" star explained his feud with Schwarzenegger. "I really respect this guy," Stallone told Fallon. "I think he's brilliant. What he's done, what he's accomplished at three different careers. But, I want to strangle him." So it seems the two have put the rivalry behind them and enjoy making jokes about it.