Action stars Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone were once fierce rivals, grabbing gossip column headlines throughout the ’80s and ’90s as they knocked each other’s box office receipts, musculature, and more. But things finally thawed out as they got older. Now, we know how it all happened.
According to a Page Six report, Schwarzenegger spoke about how legendary Hollywood attorney Jake Bloom helped end his Stallone rivalry during Bloom’s closed-door memorial service last week. And it was all thanks to Planet Hollywood.
Schwarzenegger reportedly told the crowd that he was furious when he found out in 1991 that Bloom wanted to bring Stallone in as one of the co-owners of the Hollywood-themed restaurant chain. After all, they had spent over a decade as competitors after first meeting at the 1977 Golden Globe awards. Schwarzenegger once even tricked him into appearing in the notorious bomb Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot.
Bloom worked to convince Schwarzenegger that having Stallone on board would be beneficial for the business.
As Page Six reports: “In the end, Arnie and Stallone spent so much time flying around the world to promote the burger joint that their animosity finally wore away and they became close friends.”
Stallone and Schwarzenegger would go on to appear in the Expendables series together, as well as the 2013 action film Escape Plan. Bloom passed away on September 7 at 81 years old.