Sylvester Stallone Says He, Arnold Schwarzenegger Were 'Very Confrontational'

(MENAFN- IANS) Los Angeles, Nov 7 (IANS) Hollywood actors Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger were the biggest rivals in the action film genre, and by the virtue of it, they were "very confrontational" with each other.

Sylvester Stallone, 80, shared that the rivalry affected both of them at the time. He recently appeared on 'The Rest Is Entertainment podcast', and spoke about their confrontational past.

He shared, "We were very confrontational. You have two people arriving at the beginning of a different genre, and we both want to be in charge of that genre”.

He further mentioned,“I never wanted to be an action guy, but I did First Blood, and I said, 'This is interesting because action films, if done right, is modern mythology'. It's like what they used to do, you know, Iliad and the Odyssey and Hercules and Achilles”.

He could "tell right away” that Arnold Schwarzenegger would be an issue for him in his own career, as he said, "We were at the Golden Globe Awards, and he's sitting there, and he's eyeballing me. I said, 'OK, all right. I got it, pal'. Then, he wins (Best Newcomer). I went, 'Give me a break'”.

Despite this, the actor thinks the rivalry spurned them both on. He said, "It went back and forth, back and forth on and off screen. It was very contentious, trust me, which I enjoyed. We fought to make the next action film (and) it just kept elevating”.

The two actors ultimately resolved their differences in the early 2000s, when the former bodybuilder ran to be the Governor of California.

Sylvester Stallone said,“It wasn't put to bed until, like, 20 years later when he decided to run for governor. We went to the same cigar place, and he was there. I said, 'You know, enough of this. We're not in competition, (you're) not doing movies anymore. Thank you very much for waking me up, lighting a fire under me'. He felt the same way”.

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