When it comes to the land of Hollywood, it has seen its fair share of rivalries. From actors to directors, no one is spared. But the most classic tale of rivalry is probably between the two biggies- Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone. It is impossible to not know and admire these two gentlemen and even more impossible to not know the decades-long rivalry between the two.
Many of us might now know them as friends or even co-stars, but their relationship as beer and Skittles. The rivalry, which went off for as long as 20 whole years, showed the duo involved in numerous verbal spats and attacks in the press and even showed the two trying to surpass each other through the big screen.
Sylvester Stallone Vs. Arnold Schwarzenegger: How It Began
The now good friends and co-actors remained at each other’s throats throughout the 80s and 90s. From trying to upstage each other through their screen kills and weapon size to dissing each other in the media, quite frankly at that, none of the two legendary actors wanted to back down.
“We really disliked each other immensely. 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.”
The rivalry began when the two met each other for the first time at the 1977 Golden Globes Awards. Sylvester Stallone had been nominated for Best Actor, while Schwarzenegger was in the race for New Star of the Year. While Stallone lost, Schwarzenegger won and gloated about Stallone’s loss. A few moments later Stallone hurled a large bowl of flowers at Schwarzenegger after Rocky bagged the Cecil B. DeMille Award. And from that moment forth, the two actors became arch-enemies.
The Duo Couldn’t Stand Being In The Same Galaxy
Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone dominated the action genre on the big screen throughout the 80s and 90s, with a never before seen on-screen rivalry. What started at the 1977 Golden Globes went on for twenty whole years. Stallone remarked in an interview with Variety,
“We couldn’t stand being in the same galaxy for a while, even our DNA hated each other. We truly, truly loathed each other.”
However, the two later acknowledged each other and became good friends, an enemies-to-friendship that continued to the big screen when there starred in The Expendables trilogy.
You can stream The Expendables on Netflix.
Source: Variety
