Long before they appeared in The Expendables franchise together, Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger were bitter rivals in the ’90s. “We couldn’t stand to be in the same galaxy together for a while,” Stallone, 76, said on Britain’s The Jonathan Ross Show over the weekend. “We truly, truly loathed each other.” In fact, Stallone said that their feud was so intense that they would fight over film projects, which led Schwarzenegger to trick the Rocky into starring in a horrible movie: 1992’s Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot.
“He’s quite clever,” Stallone said of the 75-year-old former California governor. “He goes around town saying, ‘I can’t wait to do this film.’ I go to my agent, ‘Get that thing away from him.’” The action-comedy follows macho police Sgt. Joe Bomowski (Stallone), who is dealing with a painful breakup when he gets a cross-country visit from his mother, Tutti (Estelle Getty). Her misguided efforts to help only fray his nerves, but that doesn’t stop her from nagging Joe to be more open about his feelings toward his ex-girlfriend and current boss, Lt. Gwen Harper (JoBeth Williams). When Tutti witnesses a brutal multiple murder, she takes her meddling to the extreme by tagging along to help her son solve the case. The film ranked a low 14% on Rotten Tomatoes, with critics calling it “thoroughly witless and thuddingly unfunny.” One person said, “I laughed occasionally, but in pain.”
Elsewhere in his appearance, Sly revealed he didn’t “look Italian enough” when he auditioned to be one of 250 extras for the wedding scene in 1972’s The Godfather. “I look like a plate of spaghetti. Are you nuts?” Stallone says 30 years later, he hired that casting director and “pretty much tortured her for three years.” Also in the 70s, the Italian Stallion auditioned for the role of Superman for the series, saying he would be “the world’s shortest Superman” standing at 5′ 10″ and joked that he would “fly below the trouble” and doesn’t “look good in leotards — at all.” Watch below:
Stallone is currently promoting his new film, Tulsa King, which is now out in theaters. New York mafia capo Dwight “The General” Manfredi (Stallone), is released from prison after 25 years and exiled by his boss to set up shop in Tulsa, Oklahoma; realizing that his mob family may not have his best interests in mind, Dwight slowly builds a crew. Watch the trailer below: