Even though they’ve since mended fences and become the best of friends, the long-running rivalry between Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone at the height of their respective powers remains the stuff of Hollywood legend.
Two big beefy boys battling for box office supremacy and the right to call themselves the best, brightest, and most bankable action star in the business led to plenty of shots being fired across the bows, in particular the epic troll that saw Schwarzenegger leak his false interest in the terrible script for Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot, simply to convince Stallone to sign on for what he knew was going to be a disaster.
They’re more likely to be seen hanging out than hurling insults these days, though, but it’s nonetheless a curious coincidence they’ve made their first forays into television at roughly the same time. Sly won plaudits for his turn in Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan’s crime drama Tulsa King, whereas Arnold is playing up to expectations with next week’s Netflix action comedy FUBAR.
However, in a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Schwarzenegger admitted that he too would love to work with Sheridan in some capacity, and you’ve got to think at least part of it would be down to the prospect of beating his former arch-nemesis at his own game.
“Absolutely! I think he’s very talented. And the cast on [Yellowstone] is phenomenal. Today, I see much more of other people’s performances than I did in the 80s, when I was only seeing myself. I was thinking: ‘I have to win.’ It was a competition against Sly, against others. ‘I have to be number one.’”
We’ll just have to wait and see if it comes to pass, but it would be a fitting new chapter in their storied history were the Terminator icon to sneakily try to one-up the Rocky and Rambo legend one more time.
