Sylvester Stallone recently opened up about the rocky relationship he shared with Arnold Schwarzenegger back in the 1980s, explaining why they ‘really disliked each other’ during that time.
These two action icons have teamed up on the big screen several times over the years, but when they first crossed paths at the 1977 Golden Globe Awards, things didn’t go well at all.
That year, Stallone was up for Best Actor, while Schwarzenegger was nominated for New Star of the Year.
According to ScreenRant, when Rocky didn’t take home the award, Schwarzenegger seemed smug and reportedly even ‘mocked Stallone’s loss’.
In a moment of frustration, Sylvester admits he grabbed a vase full of flowers and threw it in Arnold’s direction.
As the ’80s progressed, their rivalry only heated up as both actors worked hard to establish themselves as the top stars in the action genre.
Stallone revealed to David Letterman in a 2013 interview that they got into a game of one-upmanship, constantly trying to outshine each other on screen.
“After a while, I started to like this competition, this one-upmanship. He’d get a bigger gun. I’d shoot more people. He’d shoot more people,” he shared.
They constantly went back and forth, each trying to outdo the other, never missing a chance to gain an upper hand.
While promoting his TV show Tulsa King, Stallone recently told Forbes that he and Schwarzenegger were like “cats and dogs” during those days.
Stallone explained: “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… and 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.”
It wasn’t until years later, when they joined forces in The Expendables franchise, that they finally managed to put their rivalry to rest.
Now, thankfully, they get along incredibly well and have become close friends, leaving their competitive days behind.
