Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone are the prime example of how great friendships often get kickstarted under the most unbelievable circumstances.
Although the two have come to warm up to each other and are known to be good friends, there used to be a point when neither of them could even stand each other, let alone enjoy the other person’s company. In fact, the actors openly detested each other! And it was precisely this animosity between them which bloomed into a full-fledged rivalry, leading the pair to be out for each other’s throat whenever the other one got a chance to.
Things escalated to such a volatile state that Sylvester Stallone’s career in the film industry could very well have sustained a major dent in it after he starred in a particular action/comedy which turned out to be a massive flop in the box office, all of which happened because the First Blood actor was trying to extract his revenge against Arnold Schwarzenegger.
How the Rivalry Between Sylvester Stallone And Arnold Schwarzenegger Started
The first time that Sylvester Stallone‘s strong aversion against Arnold Schwarzenegger sparked up was at the 1977 Golden Globes Awards when the former had just made a name for himself as the iconic boxer after leading John G. Avildsen’s Rocky.
While Stallone was looking forward to winning an accolade or two for his sports/drama film, fate seemed to have something entirely else for him in store as Rocky kept losing to other films instead. And an already agitated Stallone was further prodded by The Terminator star who was sitting opposite him on the same table, and who kept “gloating” about Rocky not bagging any wins.
But when the movie finally did earn a Golden Globe for the Best Motion Picture, things took an unexpectedly acrimonious turn when the Creed star hurled “a giant bowl of flowers” straight at Schwarzenegger’s head for incessantly making fun of his losses. Although the latter managed to elude the attack, it nevertheless marked the beginning of a prolonged feud between the two which went on for almost a decade.
“I managed to grab this giant bowl of flowers. And heaved it in his direction. It had lilies and tulips… It began a ten-year battle royale. And I thought, ‘The gauntlet is down.'”
Soon after that event, the two started to loathe each other to such an extent that their conflict started to contort into a hatred-driven competitiveness which ultimately turned into professional hostility just as much as it had been a personal one.
Sylvester Stallone’s Revenge Plan Against Arnold Schwarzenegger Backfired on Him
At first, their feud slipped into their professional lives in a less volatile and more humorous way. But soon Stallone and Schwarzenegger had reached an unshakable impasse as each tried to topple the other’s career by trying to steal his movie roles.
Things turned especially ugly when the Rambo star nearly dug a grave for his own career by picking up a film which ended up being a failure at the box office as he tried to get back at Schwarzenegger.
Back in 1992, Schwarzenegger was offered to star in Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot which he declined after reading the script due to the realization that it wasn’t going to be a good movie in the least. But after he turned it down, the producers tried their luck with Stallone, who then made the grave mistake of checking with the Predator star whether or not he was planning to do the film.
When he asked Schwarzenegger if he wanted to lead the movie, the latter feigned that he did, claiming that it was “a brilliant idea.” And so, The Expendables actor did all that he could to steal this project from his nemesis, which in reality was exactly what the latter wanted.
“I was trying to get back at Arnold, I heard he was going to do [the film] and he said: ‘Haha, tricked you!”
The film was a massive fail and received poor reviews from critics and audience alike. The True Lies star attested to it all as well:
“It’s 100 percent true. In those days we did all kinds of crazy things to get ahead in our rivalry. Luckily for us and everyone else, today, we root for each other. Thank God, because we sure don’t ever need another Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot.”
But as it happens, the duo eventually found the right footing and are presently “great friends.”
Maybe everything happens for a reason after all.
Source: Express
