Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone are two of the biggest action stars in Hollywood history.
They also had a fierce rivalry in the 1980s to be the biggest star on the planet.
And Arnold Schwarzenegger made this surprising confession about Sylvester Stallone’s career.
Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone break the silence on their relationship
Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone redefined what it meant to be an action star in Hollywood in the 1980s and 1990s.
But these two were locked in a competition to be the biggest action star in the movie business.
They sat down for an interview special on Fox, TMZ Presents: Arnold & Sly: Rivals, Friends, Icons, where they discussed their legendary careers and their past rivalry.
Schwarzenegger said that Stallone’s success helped him with his career in the movie business.
“There’s no two ways about that: He was very helpful in my career because I had something that I could chase,” Schwarzenegger said.
Stallone became a Hollywood star with 1976’s Rocky while Schwarzenegger’s breakthrough role was the 1982 sword and sorcery epic Conan the Barbarian.
The emergence of Schwarzenegger in Hollywood provided motivation to the Rocky star because he was a serious competitor in the action genre.
Stallone said when Schwarzenegger “came along I was like finally, something to motivate me. Because he is, dare I say it, competition, a threat, whatever word you wanna use.”
The rivalry was off and running as each actor competed to see who could have the biggest muscles, the biggest explosions in their movies, and the most box-office success.
“As soon as I saw him it was like bang, two alphas hitting,” Stallone continued. “If we walked into a party we’d be staring at each other for a few seconds and then ‘I gotta get that guy. He didn’t do anything wrong but he will.’”
Schwarzenegger confessed he was “the one who started this whole thing . . . by opening up my mouth, saying stupid things, being competitive.”
Two action icons later become friends
Schwarzenegger and Stallone eventually became friends in the late 1990s and eventually worked together.
They both appeared in The Expendables 2 and The Expendables 3 – an action franchise featuring an ensemble cast of iconic action stars.
And the films used the pair’s offscreen history in the series.
Schwarzenegger leads a competing mercenary group to Stallone’s and they are old acquaintances with a friendly but tense relationship.
In 2013, they both became co-leads in a movie for the first time in the prison escape thriller Escape Plan.
During the TMZ interview, they were asked about what they admired in the other actor.
Schwarzenegger pointed to Stallone’s dedication and his passion.
“It’s really unbelievable, and it must come from somewhere because he’s a very emotional guy, which I’m not. I’m emotional but not like him. Very different in that way,” Schwarzenegger said.
Stallone said that his former rival was as cool as a cucumber.
“He’s like a season that doesn’t change,” Stallone explained. “Very organized, very calculated, very thoughtful. I’m not, and he’s right, I’m very emotional and I tend to be swayed and things can upset logic quite often. And that’s when you make mistakes when your heart overwhelms your brain.”
