They hated each other. Now they love each other.
That’s the story Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone copped to this evening during an interview on The Graham Norton Show.
The two action stars were often sniping at each other in the press, to the point where Stallone said that “even our DNA hated each other.”
That ended in the late 1990s. Having both invested in the Planet Hollywood restaurant chain, the two found themselves traveling together to various openings. That brought them together, and they have since become fast friends, often collaborating on projects.
Before that, things got intense.
“We were movie rivals, but we took the competitiveness to the extreme – we each had to have the best body, we had to kill more people in our films, and we had to have the biggest guns,” Schwarzenegger recalled. “It got out of control, and we tried to derail each other.”
The Planet Hollywood bonding changed that, and the two embarked on a series of buddy movies, with Schwarzenegger joining Stallone’s 2013 action thriller Escape Plan and the Expendables franchise. “He is a great human being, and we are now inseparable,” Schwarzenegger said.
What caused the earlier hatred? It dates to the 1977 Golden Globes, where they were seated at the same table. Stallone lost in five of six nominated categories, while Schwarzenegger won the New Star award.
Stallone claimed that Schwarzenegger laughed at his losses, leading Stallone to throw a bowl of flowers at him when Rocky eventually won for Best Motion Picture – Drama.
The two constantly sniped after that. They’d get bigger guns, shoot more people, and generally try to out-macho the other guy in their roles.
Schwarnezenegger struck a nerve when he alleged that Stallone used body doubles in a number of his films. That led many to assume that in 1985’s Rocky IV, villainous opponent Ivan Drago had an unidentifiable accent many interpreted as a dig at Schwarzenegger.
But all is now fine. Stallone even attended Schwarzenegger’s inauguration as California governor. And he’s finally giving credit to his one-time hated acting rival.
In a June interview, Stallone praised Schwarzenegger. “He just had all the answers. He had the body. He had the strength. That was his character.”