Arnold Schwarzenegger Confirms He ‘Started’ Sylvester Stallone Rivalry In Joint Interview

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone still vividly remember their rabid rivalry.

The elder statesmen of high-octane Hollywood action famously competed throughout the ’80s and ’90s and sat down to dish on the extreme lengths they went to for a joint interview titled TMZ Presents: Arnold & Sly: Rivals, Friends, Icons.

“As soon as I saw him, it was like, ‘Bang, two alphas hitting’,” Sly recalled to moderator and TMZ founder Harvey Levin. “If we walked into a party, we’d be staring at each other for a few seconds, and then, ‘I got to get that guy. He didn’t do anything wrong, but he will’.”

While Sylvester said Arnie’s rise helped “motivate” him, and the Terminator actor agreed his fellow action star “was very helpful” as someone he could “chase” after, Arnold admitted he “started this whole thing” by “saying stupid things” and “being competitive”.

“It was kind of like, ‘Well, what was your body fat?’” he recalled asking Sylvester. “And I was down to 7%, so I said I was down to 10%. So it became a competition with the body. Then he started using machine guns that were huge machine guns.”

“I was running after him,” Arnold continued. “He was not running after me. So I said, when we did Predator — you got to get a machine gun that is normally mounted on a tank or in a helicopter — I said … I got to have a bigger machine gun than he used in Rambo.”

Their competition had started much earlier at the 1977 Golden Globes, however, when Sylvester’s Rocky won Best Film after Arnold claimed the New Actor of the Year award for Stay Hungry. Sylvester said that he “lost it” when Rocky won.

“I literally went and picked up this entire bouquet of flowers and tossed them straight up in the air, sort of aiming toward [Arnold’s] side of the table,” he said. “And it all comes down, he’s sort of sitting there [thinking] … [he] just threw down the gauntlet.”

The former rivals have long patched things up, even carving Halloween pumpkins together in 2022.
The former rivals have long patched things up, even carving Halloween pumpkins together in 2022.

Eric Charbonneau via Getty Images

The most insidious incident came in the early ’90s, however, when Arnold used certain sources and Hollywood agents to pretend he was circling Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot, a mother-son buddy cop movie, only to ensure it landed in Sylvester’s lap.

The film, which starred Sylvester and Golden Girls alum Estelle Getty, was a critical flop.

“I was, of course, absolutely in heaven,” Arnold said. “I felt like the only way that I could catch up with him was if he stumbled. It was psychological. This is a whole thing about Hollywood — when you’re always as good as your last movie.”

The action icons have long patched things up, even carving Halloween pumpkins together in 2022. Arnold said he admires Sylvester for his emotional vulnerability and “dedication and passion,” only for Sly to respond in kind.

“He’s like a chess player. You don’t know what’s going on, but he gets it done,” he said of the former California governor.

“And he really does have a big heart, he does. I mean, you wouldn’t think it because we’re ‘action guys,’ but we’re more emotional than a lot of more dramatic actors, trust me.”

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Brian Cox Pulls Zero Punches When It Comes To Joaquin Phoenix’s ‘Appalling’ Napoleon Performance

Brian Cox’s assessment of Joaquin Phoenix’s performance in Napoleon was always Logan Roy-esque in its bluntness.

Earlier this week, the Succession star put in an appearance at HitFest where he was interviewed by BBC News anchor Clive Myrie.

When the conversation turned to Ridley Scott’s recent Napoleon biopic – which divided opinion upon its release last year – the Emmy winner made his feelings clear.

“It’s terrible,” Brian said, as reported by the Evening Standard. “A truly terrible performance by Joaquin Phoenix. It really is appalling. I don’t know what he was thinking.

“I think it’s totally his fault and I don’t think Ridley Scott helps him. I would have played it a lot better than Joaquin Phoenix, I tell you that. You can say it’s good drama. No – it’s lies.”

Joaquin Phoenix in character as Napoleon
Joaquin Phoenix in character as Napoleon

He added of Napoleon’s Oscar-winning star: “I think he’s well-named. Joaquin…wha-keen… wacky. It’s a sort of wacky performance.”

Brian was similarly critical of another historical drama, 1995’s Braveheart, branding it “a load of nonsense” and “a bollocks” (although he did praise Mel Gibson’s “wonderful” performance in the lead role).

Mel Gibson in Braveheart
Mel Gibson in Braveheart

IconIcon/Ladd Co/Paramount/Kobal/Shutterstock

And as for Method acting, the controversial technique employed by his former co-star Jeremy Strong?

“Oh no that’s all bollocks. It’s a kind of nonsense,” he insisted. “We’re transmitters. That’s what we are as actors. We transmit energy.”

During a Town & Country magazine interview last year, Brian was similarly critical of Method acting, insisting his “fucking gifted” colleague should “celebrate [his] gift” and “go back to [his] trailer and have a hit of marijuana” rather than putting himself through so much in the name of acting.

“It’s fucking annoying, don’t get me going on it…” he said of Jeremy’s technique.

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Robert Downey Jr Explains Why Acting In Oppenheimer Was Like ‘Picking Fly S**t Out Of Pepper’

Following his Oscar win for his performance in Oppenheimer, Robert Downey Jr. has likened acting in the historical drama to “picking fly s**t out of pepper”.

In an Esquire interview published online last week, Robert explained how filming the US miniseries The Sympathizer helped him “unwind” from the rigour of his work on Christopher Nolan’s 2023 movie.

“I knew that playing Strauss, in Oppenheimer, was going to be like picking fly shit out of pepper—that it was going to be extremely exacting, that it was going to be… not confining, but liberating by its varied implicit limitations of what my usual toolbox is,” he said.

In Oppenheimer, Robert portrays Atomic Energy Commission member Lewis Strauss, the nemesis of physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer.

Meanwhile, he plays multiple roles in The Sympathizer, which US broadcaster HBO describes as an “espionage thriller and cross-culture satire” based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel.

In a W Magazine interview published online in January, the former Marvel actor said that playing Strauss was “counterintuitive for me”.

“I know that we’re all mixtures of what our persona is and who we really are. Nolan was inviting me to turn the mirror onto an unexplored portion of myself,” he said.

“And the character, to me, is everybody who has ever felt slighted by somebody who was more important than them. It gave me a lot of time to reflect. I wondered if I’ve come off like that to people in the past. And I wondered if I were them, if I wouldn’t seek to destroy me.”

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Daniel Radcliffe Admits Fearing A Harry Potter Co-Star ‘Hated’ Him: ‘I Was Terrified By Him’

Daniel Radcliffe has opened up about his working relationship with Alan Rickman, sharing that he was once “terrified” of his former Harry Potter co-star.

The two began working together in the first Harry Potter film, in which Daniel made his debut as a child actor playing the title character, while Alan portrayed Potions professor Severus Snape.

In a new interview with the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Daniel admitted to being initially “so intimidated” by the late Die Hard actor when they first began working together.

“How can you not be by that voice?” he said. “Even hearing that voice, you forget quite how low it was until it echoes through you.

“I was so intimidated by him for the first three movies. I was terrified by him and was like, ‘This guy hates me’.”

Alan Rickman in 2015, a year before his death
Alan Rickman in 2015, a year before his death

David M. Benett via Getty Images

As time went on, the pair eventually became close, particularly after Alan noticed Daniel’s work ethic.

“Somewhere along the lines he saw that I really wanted to do this and work at it,” Daniel said.

“He cut short a vacation in Canada to come and see me in Equus. He saw every piece of stage work I did when he was alive. He would take me out afterwards and we would talk about it.”

Daniel added: “He was one of the first people to say like, ‘You should look at voice coaching and investigate all this stuff’.”

After being played a clip from 2016 in which Alan sang his praises, Daniel said: “I am so lucky. To hear him say that is really lovely. Thank you for showing me that.”

Daniel Radcliffe and Alan Rickman in 2011
Daniel Radcliffe and Alan Rickman in 2011

via Associated Press

In the clip in question Alan was heard saying: “As much as I was doing it for seven weeks, they were doing it for 52 weeks. This was their life from 12 to 22.

“And you would watch it from the sidelines at times and throw the odd lifeline in because there was so little time for that.”

The Love Actually actor added that he felt “huge pride” watching Daniel in the Broadway musical How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying.

“How dare he be dancing as well as the New York dancers,” he joked. “He worked at it.”

In 2022, Alan Rickman’s diaries were published, in which his changing feelings towards Harry Potter’s younger cast members were documented.

He wrote in one 2008 entry: “One minute he was 12 now he’s 19. When did that happen? And he’s sensitive, articulate and smart.”

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Rebecca Ferguson Says Co-Stars Called Her About Screaming Actor Story: ‘You Understand What You’ve Done?’

Rebecca Ferguson says some of her former co-stars were left on edge after she went viral for revealing that an unnamed actor once brought her to tears after they “screamed” at her during filming.

In a new interview released on Sunday, the Dune star said that when she came forward about the incident earlier this year, she was “not expecting” her peers in the industry to take the news the way they did.

“I’ve got phone calls from amazing co-stars who I’ve worked with going, ‘You understand what you’ve done, right?’ And I was like, ‘Oh my God. No, I didn’t think,’” Rebecca said on The Jess Cagle Show.

“I mean, it’s not my responsibility, to be honest. I don’t really care. You know, ‘You’re great, but my story is my story, and if you’re a good person, then don’t worry about it,’” she added.

While the Mission: Impossible star noted that she “enjoyed the grab” of speaking out about the experience, she explained that she had much deeper reasons for opening up about the incident.

“The point of the interview wasn’t about finding the person — of course, people will be interested,” Rebecca said.

“But what I was excited about the question, which was a very good question by [podcaster Josh Smith]. Because the point was: Is there a point in your career where you were treated in a way where you changed your decision on — this is how I formulated it in myself — where you want change, or you will not accept it? And it was such a clear moment for me working with this person.”

In her original comments, Rebecca revealed that “an absolute idiot of a co-star” had screamed at her while they were filming an undisclosed movie.

“I remember there was a moment, and this human being was being so insecure and angry because this person couldn’t get the scenes out. And I think I was so vulnerable and uncomfortable that I got screamed at,” she said during an appearance on the Reign With Josh Smith podcast back in February.

Though Rebcca didn’t name the bad-tempered actor, she previously confirmed that it was not her 2021 Reminiscence co-star, Hugh Jackman, nor was it her Mission: Impossible colleague, Tom Cruise.

Her 2014 Hercules co-star, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, also ruled himself out on social media after voicing his support for Ferguson back in February.

Watch Rebecca Ferguson’s latest interview below:

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