‘He had the body’: Sylvester Stallone reflects on past rivalry with Arnold Schwarzenegger while declaring that the actor was the ‘superior’ action star

By DAILYMAIL.COM REPORTER

PUBLISHED: 11:31 EDT, 12 June 2023 | UPDATED: 11:39 EDT, 12 June 2023

Sylvester Stallone said his former rival Arnold Schwarzenegger was the ‘superior’ action star while appearing in the bodybuilding champ’s Netflix docuseries.

Despite ‘truly’ loathing each other at the start of their respective careers, the Rocky star, 76, reflected on how he and the 75-year-old Terminator actor had ‘different styles of acting.’

‘He was superior. He just had all the answers,’ he said of Schwarzenegger. ‘He had the body. He had the strength. That was his character.’ 

The father-of-five noted that the fierce competition between them formed as they both aspired to be the the ‘definitive action guy’ of the Eighties.

‘Up until that time, action was a car chase like Bullitt or The French Connection, and a film all about intellect and innuendo and verbal this and verbal that,’ Stallone said.

Singing his praises: Sylvester Stallone said his former rival Arnold Schwarzenegger was the ‘superior’ action star while appearing in the bodybuilding champ’s Netflix docuseries; seen in 2015

Stallone continued: ‘You actually relied upon your body to tell the story.’

‘Dialogue was not necessary. I saw that there was an opportunity, ’cause no one else was doing this… except some other guy from Austria, who doesn’t need to say much,’ the Oscar nominee recalled. 

Both men enjoyed flourishing careers as action stars in the 1980s, with the result that there was bitter rivalry between them. 

Last year, Stallone admitted that they ‘couldn’t stand to be in the same galaxy together for a while’ during a 2022 interview on The Jonathan Ross Show. 

Sylvester claimed that Arnold even ‘tricked’ him into starring into the ‘piece of s***’ 1992 comedy Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot.

However he managed to sneak in a jibe about Arnie’s own widely reviled 1994 flick Juniro, saying: ‘At least I wasn’t pregnant in a film, Arnold. We’re even.’

In more recent decades the pair have settled into a friendly equation, even starring together in two Expendables films and the 2013 movie Escape Plan.

In November, he Schwarzenegger is ‘very wise and he loves to talk about philosophies.’ 

(November 2022)

Looking back: Despite ‘truly’ loathing each other at the start of their respective careers , the Rocky star, 76, reflected on how he and the 75-year-old Terminator actor had ‘different styles of acting’ (pictured in November 2022)

In October, the Hollywood stars went viral after sharing a photo from their pumpkin carving contest 

‘It’s good to talk to a man who actually has put his money where his mouth is and he’s achieved that,’ said Stallone. ‘Then we start goofing around and being crazy — just laughing at the old times. I told him, ‘We are the last two tyrannosaurus.’ We’re the last two meat-eaters and there’s not much beef left out there. So we better enjoy each other.’ 

Last year, Stallone teased that Schwarzenegger would be making a cameo on his upcoming reality show, The Family Stallone, as well as the former governor of California’s donkey, Lulu.

In October, the Hollywood stars went viral after sharing a photo from their pumpkin carving contest.

He posted the original Instagram snap on October 18, setting fans abuzz with an image of himself with Arnie as they held massive knives over their pumpkins.