In the 1980s and early 1990s, Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger were Hollywood rivals striving to be the top action stars. They revealed in a recent interview with TMZ that their competitiveness led to some Machiavellian tactics to gain the upper hand.
The two icons, now close friends, sat down for a primetime special on FOX called TMZ Presents: Arnold & Sly: Rivals, Friends, Icons. During the interview with Harvey Levin, they discussed their past rivalry, troubled childhoods, and even chose hypothetical Mount Rushmore faces for action heroes.
Schwarzenegger shared details of their rivalry, including a competition over body fat percentages and action movie kill counts. As their careers peaked in the 1990s, Schwarzenegger admitted to trying to sabotage Stallone by ensuring he got the lead role in the less-than-stellar film Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot opposite Estelle Getty.
Despite Stallone’s crossover attempt in the comedy genre, Schwarzenegger’s own successes in films like Twins and Kindergarten Cop overshadowed it. The two former megastars reflected on their roles as era-defining action heroes in Hollywood, revolutionizing the genre with their relentless energy and larger-than-life characters.
Stallone and Schwarzenegger discussed their impact on the action movie genre and how they brought a new level of intensity and action to the screen. They also named their choices for an Action Movie Mount Rushmore, with Schwarzenegger selecting Clint Eastwood and Stallone choosing Bruce Willis to join them.