In the 80s, Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger were two of the biggest names in action films. Fans of both Schwarzenegger and Stallone have long argued about who is the superior action star when both actors were terrific action stars with rugged good looks.
Their names alone were enough to make a film a box office sensation. But, after all these years, Stallone has finally addressed the question of who is better, him or the True Lies actor.
Sylvester Stallone said he wanted to be better than Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone have always had a rivalry. They both wanted to outperform each other because they were two of the finest action stars. The 76-year-old actor once discussed his rivalry with the former California governor. In an interview, the Creed actor expressed his aim to surpass Schwarzenegger. He also stated that in the 1980s, there was very little need for speech because their well-built physique did all of the talking. In an interview, the Rocky actor said,
“The ’80s was a very interesting time because the definitive ‘action guy’ had not really been formed yet. Up until that time, action was a car chase like Bullitt or The French Connection, and a film all about intellect and innuendo and verbal this and verbal that.”
He further added,
“You actually relied upon your body to tell the story. Dialogue was not necessary. I saw that there was an opportunity, ’cause no one else was doing this… except some other guy from Austria, who doesn’t need to say much. Every time he came out with a movie like Rambo II, I had to figure out a way of now outdoing that.”
Stallone stated that they both became very competitive once their films performed well at the box office and people began to show their affection for their films. The 76-year-old actor compared himself and Schwarzenegger to Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, or two great warriors fighting each other.
Sylvester Stallone explained why Arnold Schwarzenegger is superior
The 75-year-old actor and Stallone have worked together in 4 films. The Expendables, The Expendables 2, Escape Plan, and The Expendables 3. After all these years, the First Blood actor thinks Schwarzenegger had every star quality and he was always better than him. While talking about how his Escape Plan co-star is better than him, the 76-year-old actor said,
“He was superior. He just had all the answers. He had the body. He had the strength. That was his character. I had to get my ass kicked constantly, whereas Arnold, he never got hurt much. And I’m going, ‘Arnold, you could go out and fight a dragon and you’d come back with a Band-Aid.”
Stallone also stated that this rivalry between him and the Predator actor was the reason why he was always motivated to work hard for every single project. The Tulsa King actor further explained that he is a very competitive person.
Source: Deadline
