Two names that will forever go down in the history books for modern day cinema are Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Stallone, 74, has starred in films such as Creed and Guardians of the Galaxy while Schwarzenegger, 73, is most known for The Terminator and The Expendables series.
Near in age and starring in similar films it’s no surprise that the pair have had a turbulent bromance over their successful and global careers in the world of Hollywood.
So, what happened between the pair to spark a hatred before they became best friends?
Daily Star Online has explored what the pair have said over the years about their feud which bloomed into one of Hollywood’s coolest friendships.
When did the rivalry begin?
The pair would compete against one another for films (Image: Getty Images)
Their feud began when both of their careers began taking off in the 80s and 90s as they both fought for same roles and to hold the title of “Greatest Action Hero”.
The pair first met in the flesh at the Golden Globes ceremony in 1977.
Stallone, who rose to fame that year after he starred in classic film Rocky, wasn’t a fan when he first met his future best bud.
Stallone said he was hanging out and meeting people when Schwarzenegger approached him and introduced himself.
Schwarzenegger reportedly said: “Hi! I’m Arnold Schwarzenegger – new talent of the year!”, which Stallone says made him “roll his eyes” at the time.
According to Stallone, Schwarzenegger gloated every time he lost one of his nominations and it ended with Stallone throwing a bouquet of flowers at him, and so it began…
‘Violent hatred’ for Arnie
The pair are now best bus following decades of competing against one another (Image: FilmMagic)
Stallone opened up about the feud whilst talking to US talk show host David Letterman, revealing just how deep it ran between them.
He said: “We had a violent hatred.”
“Have you ever had that ever? Competition where you really had an arch enemy that kind of brings out the best in you. As Arnold would say, it really pushed you to accelerate.”
The animosity between the pair was so bad that Stallone stated that he hated “that [Schwarzenegger] was on the planet, basically.”
The Rocky star also said that he used the competition to push himself, adding: “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. But then, he went into science fiction, which kind of left me behind.”
The biggest action star
The pair had an intense rivalry over who was the biggest star in action films (Image: Getty Images)
The pair’s competition between each other got so bad, they started using their films to try and show each other up, turning the props on their hit shows into weapons against each other.
Schwarzenegger said: “He had to use bigger weapons. So then it was a competition of who had the biggest gun, and then who uses the biggest knife.
“Do you remember the Rambo knife became so big it was like a sword? No one has a knife like that! But Stallone had one built, so I had to come in with a bigger one.
“This is how it went. Who has the most unique killings? Who kills more people on screen? Who makes more money at the box office? Who has less body fat when he goes into production? All of this s**t started happening, and it didn’t stop! It was unbelievable.”
Hollywood sabotage
Arnie tricked Stallone into signing up for a film that wouldn’t help his career (Image: Getty Images)
Schwarzenegger once revealed during a Q&A session as Beyond Fest which was then reported by SlashFilm, that he used the rivalry to try to take a jab at Sylvester’s film career.
The publications claims Schwarzenegger tricked Sylvester into taking a role in the less-than-successful 1992 action-comedy Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot.
He allegedly said: “I read the script. It was so bad. You know, I’ve also done some movies that went right in the toilet, right? That were bad. But this was really bad.
Arnold Schwarzenegger in Predator (Image: Daily Record)
“So I went in — this was during our war — I said to myself, I’m going to leak out that I have tremendous interest. I know the way it works in Hollywood.
“I would then ask for a lot of money. So then they’d say, ‘Let’s go give it to Sly. Maybe we can get him for cheaper.’ So they told Sly, ‘Schwarzenegger’s interested. Here’s the press clippings. He’s talked about that. If you want to grab that one away from him, that is available.’
“And he went for it! He totally went for it. A week later, I heard about it, ‘Sly is signing now to do this movie.’ And I said, [pumps fist] ‘Yes!'”
Best friends
Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone are now best friends after decades of hating one another (Image: Getty Images)
Schwarzenegger spoke up on their current relationship and went into their history a little bit at a Q&A session as Beyond Fest which was then reported by SlashFilm.
The publication claims that Schwarzenegger told fans that he’s pleased their feud ended.
He reportedly said at the time: “I’m so glad we straightened out our mess because it wasn’t pretty.
“We were attacking each other in the press relentlessly… It became so silly that all of a sudden it became a competition about who has the most muscular body.
“So I said, ‘Sly, forget about that now. Because there’s only one seven-time Mr. Olympia, and it’s me!’”
The pair eventually became close pals after a stint together as co-owners of Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas along with fellow action star, Bruce Willis, in the 90s.
Sylvester even brought Arnold into his successful Expendables franchise.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
