How Arnold Schwarzenegger & Sylvester Stallone's Legendary Feud Ended
Long before the much-publicized Dwayne Johnson and Vin Diesel feud, Hollywood had another clash between two cinematic titans: Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone.
The big flap between the two action stars largely took place in the 1980s and 1990s, when Schwarzenegger was riding high with such blockbusters as "The Terminator," "Commando," "Predator," and "T2: Judgment Day." At the time, Stallone was just as big of a box office behemoth. Following his breakthrough boxing drama "Rocky" in 1976, Stallone continued on with his Rocky Balboa franchise, while establishing a second big-screen icon with John Rambo in his "Rambo" films, which began in 1982 with "First Blood."
Unfortunately, Schwarzenegger admitted in a new interview with "The Graham Norton Show" (via NME) that they took their cinematic rivalry too seriously. "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," Schwarzenegger told Norton. "It got out of control and we tried to derail each other."
However, when the two became business partners in a restaurant venture that showcased entertainment memorabilia, everything changed. "Then when we both invested in Planet Hollywood, we started flying around the world together to promote it and we became fantastic friends," Schwarzenegger told Norton. "He is a great human being and we are now inseparable."
Schwarzenegger & Stallone also became co-stars
In the Netflix documentary miniseries "Arnold" — a three-part look at Arnold Schwarzenegger's career as a bodybuilder, a film star, and his political years as the governor of California from 2003 to 2011 — Sylvester Stallone also discussed the rivalry between the two.
"The '80s was a very interesting time because the definitive 'action guy' had not really been formed yet," Stallone said in the documentary. "Up until that time, action was a car chase like 'Bullitt' or 'The French Connection.' A film all about intellect and innuendo and verbal this and verbal that. [Arnold] actually relied upon [his] body to tell the story."
In addition, Stallone marveled at how Schwarzenegger could endure the physical rigors associated with action movies. "He was superior. He just had all the answers. He had the body. He had the strength. That was his character," Stallone said during "Arnold." "I had to get my ass kicked constantly, whereas Arnold, he never got hurt much."
Both Schwarzenegger and Stallone became such good friends that they eventually paired for two of Stallone's "Expendables" films, and "Escape Plan." Schwarzenegger will soon return the favor to talk about his friend Stallone when he appears in the Netflix documentary "Sly," which begins streaming on November 3.