“He Tricked Me to Do That Piece of Junk.” Arnold Schwarzenegger Tricked Sylvester Stallone Into Making One of His Worst Movies
Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger had a fierce rivalry in which they indulged in foul play. Because of one of them, the Rocky star starred in one of his worst films.
Probably nothing has served the careers of Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger like their famous conflict. The rivalry between the two great stars of action cinema, who impressed with their stature and conquered the screens, aroused great interest and propelled their careers. Today they have a much better relationship, but in the past they were able to harm each other so long as “the other one” ended worse.
One of Schwarzenegger's most famous achievements in this rivalry was tricking Stallone into appearing in one of his worst movies. It was enough for the Terminator star to let the latter believe that he himself was interested in this production for Stallone to snatch it from hm and star in this debacle himself.
The film in question is 1992's Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot, which won three Golden Raspberries and was not appreciated by either audiences or critics, from whom it has 21% and 14% positive ratings on Rotten Tomatoes, respectively. The Terminator star, speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, didn't even bother to hide the fact that he intentionally put a fellow filmmaker on a landmine.
It’s 100% true. In those days, we did all kinds of crazy things to get ahead in our rivalry. Luckily for us and everyone else, today, we root for each other. Thank God, because we sure don’t ever need another Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot.
And Sylvester Stallone later realized that he had been fooled by Arnold Schwarzenegger. He also admitted that he accepted the role in Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot to spite his rival, whom he wanted to steal the project.
Also, I had heard Schwarzenegger was going to do that movie and I said, “I’m going to beat him to it.” I think he set me up.
Schwarzenegger, when he appeared on Jimmy Kimmel's show, talked about how he tricked Sylvester Stallone into participating in the flop (via Far Out Magazine).
I read the script, and it was a piece of shit. Let’s be honest. I say to myself, ‘I’m not going to do this movie…’ Then they went to Sly, and Sly called me: ‘Have they ever talked to you about doing this movie?’ And I said, ‘Yes, I was thinking about doing it. This is a really brilliant idea, this movie.’ When he heard that, because he was in competition, he said, ‘Whatever it takes, I’ll do the movie.’ And of course the movie went major into the toilet.
Stallone, when he understood Schwarzenegger's plan, wanted to take revenge on him. While shooting scenes, he realized what a “piece of junk” the film he had agreed to star in was, but he had no choice left – he had to finish it, even though he wasn't happy about it. He mentioned this during an interview with Fox & Friends.
Schwarzenegger tricked me to do that piece of junk. That's one of those things that you go, 'Why am I in this?' There's a scene they say, 'Would you mind wearing diapers?' I'm going to kill Arnold. I am going to find him and track him.
This situation became an anecdote, which both action movie stars recall with amusement today, however, when it came to Stallone's appearance in Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot, he was not laughing. Unlike his rival, who must have been pleased that he managed to trick the Rocky star into the project.
