Stallone Says Schwarzenegger Rivalry Ended Only at the Governor's Race

Sylvester Stallone says his two-decade rivalry with Arnold Schwarzenegger ended only when Schwarzenegger ran for governor of California, because the Austrian was "not doing movies anymore." Stallone made the remarks in a recent interview on "The Rest Is Entertainment" podcast, where he reflected on how the contest shaped his career and pushed him toward risk.

Asked whether the competition with Schwarzenegger defined his choices, Stallone answered directly: "Yeah, it did. You know, we were very confrontational." He traced the friction to the moment two ambitious performers arrived in the same territory at the same time. "You have two people arriving at the beginning of a different genre and we both want to be in charge of that genre," he said.

Stallone never set out to be an action star, he explained. That changed with "First Blood." "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, are modern mythology. It's like what they used to do, you know, 'The Iliad' and 'The Odyssey' and Hercules and Achilles,'" he told the podcast.

How did the rivalry start?

The first signal came at the Golden Globe Awards. "So, I see this guy, and I could tell right away he's going to be a problem," Stallone said of Schwarzenegger. "You know, we were at the Golden Globe Awards, and he's sitting there and he's eyeballing me, and — we call that stink eye — I said, 'Okay, all right. I got it, pal.' And then he wins."

From there, the two traded blows at the box office throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Both actors liked to challenge each other, Stallone said. "We're both physical, and now, who's going to be the vanguard, the leader in that genre? So I do 'Rambo,' he does 'Commando,' and it went back and forth, back and forth, on and off screen. It was very contentious, trust me. Which I enjoyed."

What changed between them?

The hostility survived even a shared business venture. The two partnered on the movie-themed restaurant chain Planet Hollywood in 1991, yet Stallone noted they would not even get on stage together to give a speech.

The truce came roughly 20 years after the rivalry began, at a cigar lounge both men frequented. "We went to the same cigar place. He was there. I said, 'Enough of this. We're not in competition anymore.' He's not doing movies anymore. All right. Thank you very much for waking me up and lighting a fire under me. And he felt the same way," Stallone recalled.

Schwarzenegger announced his gubernatorial run in 2003 and served as California's governor until 2011, the career shift that removed the two stars from direct commercial combat.

The competitive instinct has not disappeared, only changed form. "We're always going to be competitive… That's the nature of the beast, and I enjoy it. I really do. But we're not as financially competitive anymore," Stallone concluded. The friendship that replaced the feud suggests the genre the two men fought to rule may have been big enough for both — a point the podcast interview makes without either star conceding it outright.