Arnold Schwarzenegger Reveals Wild Body Count Rivalry That Fueled Feud With Sylvester Stallone

Hollywood has seen its fair share of legendary rivalries, but few off-screen competitions have been as peculiar as the one between two of action cinema’s biggest stars during the 1980s and 1990s. Before they became true friends, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone turned everything from muscle mass to weapon size into a competitive scoreboard neither was willing to concede. Recently resurfaced comments from a primetime interview shed light on the full extent of this rivalry.

For decades, Schwarzenegger and Stallone were the defining figures of the action genre, constantly trading box office records and increasingly outrageous roles as they sought to outdo each other. While their competitive nature eventually blossomed into a genuine friendship, during their peak years, the two stars pushed each other into some truly absurd creative choices on screen.

In a joint interview with TMZ, Schwarzenegger revealed that he specifically requested a helicopter-mounted machine gun for ‘Predator’ to outshine a weapon Stallone had used in ‘Rambo.’ He recounted how the rivalry began with something as simple as on-screen kill counts. After comparing notes, Schwarzenegger discovered he had killed 32 characters in one of his films, while Stallone had only killed 28, prompting Stallone to declare he needed to surpass that number.

From that point, the competition escalated into increasingly specific territory. Schwarzenegger shared how the rivalry transitioned from body count to actual body fat percentage, recalling that after learning Stallone had dropped to 7 percent body fat for a role, he pushed himself down to 10 percent just to keep up. He noted that once Stallone began using visibly larger machine guns on screen, he felt compelled to demand something even bigger for his own films.

This escalation directly led to Schwarzenegger’s iconic minigun scene in ‘Predator,’ as he insisted on having a larger machine gun than the one Stallone had used in ‘Rambo.’ The numbers game continued, with Schwarzenegger noting that once Stallone’s body count reached 80 onscreen kills, he needed to achieve 87 just to stay ahead.

Schwarzenegger described the entire dynamic as an unofficial arms race that extended well beyond their individual films. He joked that the differences between the first and later ‘Rambo’ installments could largely be attributed to their ongoing competition, as bigger guns led to a higher body count, which then prompted an even bigger response from his own camp.

These comments originated from the hour-long TMZ special titled ‘Arnold & Sly: Rivals, Friends, Icons,’ hosted by TMZ founder Harvey Levin. The special also explored the pair’s challenging childhoods and their eventual evolution from fierce competitors to close friends.

The special revealed some of the calculated moves each star made during their rivalry. Schwarzenegger admitted to influencing Stallone’s casting in the poorly received 1992 comedy ‘Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot,’ a decision he later described as a strategic attempt to slow down his rival’s momentum. Despite past tensions, both men have openly acknowledged in recent years how their competitive spirit ultimately drove them to create some of the most iconic action films of their time.

As both stars continue their careers as elder statesmen of the action genre, these behind-the-scenes stories resonate with fans who grew up watching their films compete for box office supremacy. The specificity of their rivalry, down to exact body fat percentages and kill counts, only adds to the legend of how seriously both men once took their competition.

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