Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger are now ‘good friends’

Their legendary war fueled late 20th century pop culture. But that’s all in the past…

It is one of the most iconic rivalries of late 20th century Hollywood.

On one side were the pro-Sly people. On the other, the Schwarzy team. Who was the strongest? Who was the real action hero?

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone have long compared their muscles to cultivate this little media war (they were associated, at the same time, in the Planet Hollywood channel) going so far as to make fun of each other in their respective films. In Twins (1988), Arnold sneers in front of a poster of Rambo III. In Demolition Man (1993), Sylvester laughs when he hears that Schwarzenegger was President of the United States! A skillfully maintained competition even if it may have generated some tension. But that’s all in the past! As Stallone confided this weekend during a meeting organized at PaleyFest in New York (via People):

“Schwarzenegger and I are good friends today; we have calmed down. But when you have two rivals like that, you sometimes find that, in real life, it forces you to surpass yourself. It’s that simple…“

The story between Stallone and Schwarzenegger dates back to the 1977 Golden Globes. That year, Rocky was nominated in six categories and only won Best Drama. For his part, Schwarzenegger won the trophy for new hope of the year for Stay Hungry.

Stallone later said that his rival had made fun of him after this defeat. According to some accounts, he even threw her a vase of flowers after the film won the premier category. An anecdote that has become emblematic of their animosity, even if the exact circumstances of the episode have been variously reported.

The rivalry continued for years. In 2022, Stallone acknowledged that the two men had “truly hated” in the 1990s. Everyone then sought to establish themselves at the box office with their action films. But this competition ended up transforming into mutual respect, then friendship. In the Netflix documentary series Arnoldreleased in 2023, Sly looked back with humor on the career of his former rival: “He wanted to be number one. Unfortunately, he got there.” Schwarzenegger also acknowledged that this rivalry contributed to his success, giving him a goal to pursue. The two ended up making several films together, in the Expendables (2010, 2012 and 2014) and in Escape (2013).