Sylvester Stallone claims he and Arnold Schwarzenegger’really disliked each other enormously’ in the 1980s.

The actors’ box office rivalry, according to Stallone, was “not a healthy thing at all, but we’ve become really good friends.”

They simply do not produce action movie stars like they used to. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone dominated the box office in the 1980s with their hyper-masculine,

Star-driven action films: a feat that some studios, but no actor, have fully replicated since. You’d think the experience would have bonded the titans of industry, but Stallone claims that shared experience is precisely

Stallone waxed nostalgic about his rivalry with Schwarzenegger and their eventual ability to mend fences by teaming up for “The Expendables” and “Escape Plan” in a new interview with Forbes to promote his upcoming Paramount+ series “Tulsa King.”

“We really disliked each other immensely because… this may sound a little vain, but I think we were pioneering a kind of genre at the time that hasn’t really been seen since,” Stallone explained. “So, because it’s in his nature, he’s very competitive.

And so am I… and I just thought it helped, but off-screen we were still competitive, which was not healthy, but we’ve become really good friends.”

Sylvester Stallone Now

The days of Stallone and Schwarzenegger competing for box office supremacy appear to be over (at least for the time being), as both actors have shifted their focus to television.

Stallone has collaborated on “Tulsa King” with “Yellowstone” creator Taylor Sheridan, and Schwarzenegger will star in the upcoming Netflix adventure series “Utap.”
According to critics, Stallone’s television debut is off to a promising start. “‘Tulsa King,’ Sheridan’s latest series for Paramount, feels like a breath of fresh air,” wrote IndieWire’s Ben Travers in his review. Sylvester Stallone plays an ageing gangster exiled to Oklahoma after serving a 25-year prison sentence.

The first two episodes are full of punches, posturing, and family problems. But, so far, it shares more in common with films like ‘Space Cowboys’ and ‘The Old Man and the Gun’ than with ‘Sicario’ and ‘Wind River’; stories about old men trying to make amends before it’s all over, but with a wink and a smile. Terence Winter (‘Boardwalk Empire’) is the showrunner and co-writer. There’s also a lightness of touch that suits the star’s dual abilities: an intimidating heavy one minute and a waggish teddy bear the next.”

On Sunday, November 13, “Tulsa King” will premiere on Paramount+.