Arnold Schwarzenegger had a little slyness up his sleeve in the early ‘90s when he was trying to usurp Sylvester Stallone as the more famous action star.
In an upcoming special, “TMZ Presents Arnold & Sly: Rivals, Friends, Icons,” the former governor of California and legendary “Terminator” actor sits down alongside the “Rocky” mogul to reveal how he tricked Stallone into taking a part in the 1992 film, “Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot.”
Anticipating the movie would flop – it did – Schwarzenneger and his agent concocted a plan. The two actors battled in the ‘80s for Hollywood’s top action star.
“First of all, when we talk about the movie, I didn’t talk him into [it] because I never talked to him about it,” Schwarzenegger prefaced. “But it was very clear that his agent was telling my agent, ‘Look, Sly is interested in doing it, but I don’t know if it’s the right thing for him. Let me know what you guys are thinking.’ And then my agent said, ‘Well you know, Arnold really loves it. I think it’s fantastic.'”
“So then I called Roger Spottiswoode, who was the director, who just did the James Bond movie, so he was kind of the hot director [at the time],” Schwarzenegger, 76, admitted.
“Oh my God, oh my God,” Stallone, 77, says, as Schwarzenegger recounted his process.
Stallone says on camera that he hadn’t known the intricacies of Schwarzenegger’s plan. “You talked to my director?” a stunned Stallone asked Schwarzenegger.
“Yeah,” Schwarzenegger said.
“Oh my God,” said Stallone.
“So my agent said ‘Arnold is talking to Roger Spottiswoode now and he’s really into it, I think we’re gonna take the project.’ And then of course [Stallone’s] agent, knowing that he’s competitive with me, he said, ‘Cannot let that happen,'” Schwarzenegger continues.
“He then called the studio right away and says, ‘Look, you got to give this to Sly. Don’t give this to Schwarzenegger, you got to give this to Sly.’ And they said fine. Sly got it,” Schwarzenegger shared. “I was, of course, absolutely in heaven, because I felt like the only way I could catch up with him is if he [had] a stumble.”
“I was, of course, absolutely in heaven, because I felt like the only way I could catch up with him is if he has a stumble.”
— Arnold Schwarzenegger on tricking Sylvester Stallone into taking a 1992 movie role
“Can you get more Machiavellian?” Stallone said.
Despite their past grievances, the two are pals now, although Stallone admits he is “stuck” with a stain on his resumé because of Schwarzenegger’s sneaky move.