'We truly, truly loathed each other': Sylvester Stallone recalls past rivalry with Arnold Schwarzenegger
HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA: Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger were bitter rivals before eventually becoming friends. Stallone, 76, and Schwarzenegger, 75, did not get along before they starred opposite one another in 'The Expendables' and 'Escape Plan', so at least their rivalry is over.
In an intervew the 'Rocky' star explained, "We couldn't stand to be in the same galaxy together for a while. We truly, truly loathed each other," as per Insider. Stallone made the revelation on the UK talk show 'The Jonathan Ross Show' over the weekend while discussing their careers in the 1990s.
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Shrugging the past aside when they fought as rivals for roles during the zenith of their careers, the iconic actors are now boasting about their friendship. Schwarzenegger is "very wise and he loves to talk about philosophies that have gotten him to where he is," Stallone told The Hollywood Reporter in a recent interview. "It's good to talk to a man who actually has put his money where his mouth is and he's achieved that. Then we start goofing around and being crazy — just laughing at the old times. I told him, 'We are the last two tyrannosaurus.' We're the last two meat-eaters and there's not much beef left out there. So we better enjoy each other," he added.
As they loathed each other, "This led to a rivalry between the two about the projects they were working on," Stallone further explained. 'The Terminator' star baited him into taking a role in a movie Schwarzenegger knew wouldn't be great. "He's quite clever. He goes around town saying, 'I can't wait to do this film…' I go to my agent, 'Get that thing away from him. Get people options on me,'" Stallone claims. Schwarzenegger had it planned for the 'Rambo' actor to regret taking the starring role opposite Estelle Getty in 'Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot', reported People.
The 'Cliffhanger' star added, "I got it and I said, 'What a piece of s**t this is.' He goes, 'Ha ha ha!'" However, Stallone attempted to have the last laugh by pointing out that Schwarzenegger occasionally played a terrible character himself, citing his movie 'Junior' by Ivan Reitman as an example wherein he gets pregnant, "At least I wasn't pregnant in a film, Arnold. We're even."