Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone are the two veteran actors adored by fans for their work in the action genre. Coming up with similar sorts of movies, like Commando and Rambo, respectively, the duo once confessed to being super competitive about their work.
Later on, appearing together in their 2013 movie Escape Plan, Arnold Schwarzenegger opened up about one of Sylvester Stallone’s movie records he desperately wanted to break. During an interview about their movie, Schwarzenegger mentioned how he always fell behind Stallone’s killing records in films.
Sylvester Stallone’s Killing Record Was Higher Than Arnold Schwarzenegger’s
Throughout the ’80s and ’90s, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone were the two most popular action heroes in Hollywood. This popularity gave birth to an infamous rivalry between the duo, as they both wanted to excel in the genre. However, one competition seemed extremely bizarre when Schwarzenegger revealed it.
During an interview with HeyUGuys, following the release of their 2013 movie Escape Plan, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone appeared together and spoke about their movie. At that time, Schwarzenegger recalled their bizarre competition about kill counts in their movies.
“We were very competitive…we ran into each other and I said to Sly, ‘I think that in Commando, I killed more people than you did in Rambo.’ and he said, ‘oh absolutely not. I killed 97 people.’ And I said, ‘well, I killed, yeah you’re right. 93 only killed.’ So I said, ‘ok you won this one.’. Next movie I said, ‘I’m gonna kill more people…I’ll kill 100.’ He said, ‘don’t worry, you’re never going to catch up.’”
Having a severe kill count competition with Sylvester Stallone that Arnold Schwarzenegger desperately wanted to beat, the 76-year-old actor made headlines for his willingness to kill more people in Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
Arnold Schwarzenegger Wanted To Beat Sylvester Stallone’s Record
In order to outdo Sylvester Stallone‘s record-breaking kill count in movies, Arnold Schwarzenegger mentioned seeking more murders in the Terminator sequel. Well, apparently, Schwarzenegger wasn’t lying when he said during the interview that he wanted more kill counts in the next movie compared to Stallone.
Reunited with director James Cameron to appear in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Arnold Schwarzenegger reprised his villainous character and according to IndieWire he mentioned how wanted more kill counts in the movie. Trying to convince Cameron to double down on the brutality of the first film, to compete with Stallone, Schwarzenegger was even called a “sick guy” by the director.
“I said ‘What do you mean a good Terminator?’ I was killing 68 people in the first one, in the second one I have to kill 150. We go up! Cut their throats and shoot them with a cannon and run them over with a car.’ I had to outdo Stallone. I said that my whole mission was being number one at killing amounts of people on screen.”
James Cameron was certainly concerned about Arnold Schwarzenegger’s feud with Stallone. But he didn’t agree with the actor to satisfy his rivalry with the Rambo star. Instead, Cameron went ahead with his initial plan and if anything, Schwarzenegger’s pleas prompted the director to remove even more violence from the script.