Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone couldn’t stand to be in the same room together at the height of their bitter feud.
“The Terminator” star and the “Rambo” actor became fierce rivals throughout the 1980s as they competed to become Hollywood’s top action man – and they have now both opened up about their rocky relationship with Schwarzenegger calling the other actor his sworn “enemy”.
In his new Netflix documentary “Arnold”, the actor/politician explained: “I always need an enemy … Every time he came out with a movie, like ‘Rambo II’, I had to figure out a way of now outdoing that …
“We were competing about everything. The body being ripped and oiled-up. Who is more vicious. Who is more tough. Who uses bigger knives. Who uses bigger guns. Sly and I were at war. Without Stallone, I maybe wouldn’t have been as motivated during the 1980s to do the kind of movies I did and work as hard as I did.”
Stallone said of his rival: “(I) got my a** kicked constantly … We were incredibly antagonistic. We couldn’t even stand to be in the same room. People had to separate us.”
The pair’s rivalry went on for years with Schwarzenegger even resorting to underhanded tactics in a bid to sabotage Stallone’s career, but they were able put the bad blood behind them in the 1990s and go into business together launching the Planet Hollywood restaurant chain along with fellow Hollywood hard man Bruce Willis.
Schwarzenegger even went on to share the screen with Stallone by taking on a cameo role in his movie “The Expendables” and returning for two sequels while they also acted together in 2013 action film “Escape Plan”.
