Sylvester Stallone has had an incredible career spanning decades, and Arnold Schwarzenegger has had an equally impressive career with success in the entertainment industry and multiple other ventures. They may have found success at the same time, but Stallone and Schwarzenegger were bitter rivals.
Sylvester Stallone & Arnold Schwarzenegger Are Now Friends
Stallone and Schwarzenegger’s rivalry began in the ‘70s after the 1977 Golden Globe Awards, People reports. The award ceremony was a pivotal moment for both Stallone and Schwarzenegger, whose respective films, “Rocky” and “Stay Hungry,” were up for awards. The publication notes that “Rocky” won Best Motion Picture – Drama. However, Schwarzenegger won New Star of the Year for his performance in “Stay Hungry.”
Stallone claimed that Schwarzenegger laughed at him when the film didn’t win the other five nominations (it was nominated for six), and People reports that Stallone threw flowers at Schwarzenegger.
The good news is that this rivalry is long behind the Hollywood icons. At the PaleyFest NY 2026 panel on Saturday, October 10, Stallone discussed his “Tulsa King” character Dwight Manfredi interactions with Frank Grillo’s Bill Bevilaqua. He noted how their characters have an “ebb and flow,” People reports. “I don’t think they trust each other, but there are times when they need each other,” he said. “There’s a certain camaraderie… there’s a respect. We’re very similar types.”
He continued, “It’s like me and Schwarzenegger. We’re good friends now. We’ve gotten mellow. But you have these two adversarial guys, and sometimes you really find that in real life, that just continues to up your game. That’s it.”
Arnold Schwarzenegger & Sylvester Stallone’s Rivalry
This is not the first time Stallone has commented on his relationship with Schwarzenegger. In a September interview “The Sunday Times Magazine,” Stallone commented on his past rivalry with the “Terminator” star. “We were at each other’s throats, big time. It wasn’t a joke. It was like life and death. We should have been together in the Roman Colosseum,” he said. The publication notes that their rivalry lasted 20 years.
Stallone added, “It’s like when one fighter insults the other, he’s going to train so much to put a beating on the other. We needed each other, absolutely.”
In a September 26 episode of The New York Times’ “The Interview” podcast, Stallone commented on how he and Schwarzenegger almost had a physical altercation. “I’m telling you, we almost came to blows a few [times],” he said.
Stallone continued, “I thought I had something going on, then I could see this guy, this immovable force, a very confident human being, I think even more so than me, and more psychological in the way he would manipulate and do things very cunningly. And not in a negative way, but just shrewdly, whereas I was blunt force. And I went, ‘Wow, this is my guy. This is the guy I know I’m going to have trouble with, period.’ And sure enough, we did.”
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Hollywood Icon Sylvester Stallone Reveals Where He & Rival Arnold Schwarzenegger Stand Now