Sylvester Stallone as Rambo / Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator.Photo:TriStar/Getty; Orion/Kobal/Shutterstock
TriStar/Getty; Orion/Kobal/Shutterstock
Arnold Schwarzeneggeris revealing the “stupid stuff” he andSylvester Stallonehave done in the name of competition.
In Stallone’s new NetflixdocumentarySly, the bodybuilder-actor-politician sits down to talk about how the two movie stars “would be fighting over” who could outperform the other on and off screen throughout the 1980s and ’90s.
“We were like little kids,” says Schwarzenegger, 76. “Who uses bigger knives? Who uses the biggest guns and holds them in one arm? Who has more muscles, who has more muscle definition, who has less body fat?”
Six years after the overnight success of Stallone’s Oscar-winningRocky, which he wrote and starred in, Stallone, 77, invented another character who would inspire a hit movie franchise: lone wolf Vietnam War veteran John Rambo, in 1982’sFirst Blood.
As Stallone became synonymous with explosive, fast-paced action blockbusters, as critic Wesley Morris explains inSly, “Arnold Schwarzenegger was his only competition.”
“Sly, all of a sudden with Rambo, he stepped into my arena,” says Schwarzenegger in the documentary of Stallone’s transition to action-packed films not unlikeThe TerminatorandCommando.
“All of a sudden he was ripped with muscles and everyone [was] talking about his body,” he recalls. “And so that created competition of course.”
But, Schwarzenegger adds, “Now we look back and we laugh at the whole thing.”
Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone in 2015.Todd Williamson/Getty
Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Stallone and Schwarzenegger eventually went on to star together in another action film that launched a franchise, 2010’sThe Expendables, and have spoken of “goofing around and being crazy” as friends. But in 2021 Stallone revealed the two “truly, trulyloathed each other” in their earlier career days.
“We couldn’t stand to be in the same galaxy together for a while,” Stallone said on U.K. talk showThe Jonathan Ross Show, according toInsider.
The pair’s rivalry was also a topic of discussion inArnold, Schwarzenegger’s three-part documentary, released in May. “There was only room for one of us," Stallone recalled in an interview for that docuseries.
“He was superior. He just had all the answers,” he continued. “He had the body. He had the strength. That was his character.” Stallone even admitted that if a winner had to be declared between the two of them, it would be Schwarzenegger. “He wanted to be number one… Unfortunately, he got there.”
Sylvester Stallone in “Sly”.Rob DeMartin/Netflix
Rob DeMartin/Netflix
Earlier this month in a conversation about his bookBe Useful: Seven Tools for Life, Schwarzenegger toldPEOPLEthat his relationship with Stallone these days is “fantastic.”
“I really admire him. I love him. He’s just a different person than me. He’s much more raw, and he’s much more vulnerable and in touch with his emotions… It makes him good in acting, because he feels things immediately.”
source: people.com
