to have a couple of young filmmakers, 27 years old, come in and find new life in the movie. Rocky story has basically been told. Sylvester Stallone doesn’t just play tough guys. He’s lived it. Behind the scenes, he keeps a list of five Hollywood stars he flat out hates. These aren’t petty feuds or professional disagreements.
We are talking wild betrayals, backstabbing friendships, and off-screen showdowns more intense than Rocky ever threw. Which actor played him at the peak of his fame? And who almost ended up in a real life fist fight with Stallone on set? Join us as we uncover Sylvester Stallone most hated actors. Number five, Richard Gear.
Back in 1974, Hollywood was full of hungry young actors, all trying to catch a break. Two of them were Sylvester Stallone and Richard Gear. They weren’t famous yet, just a couple of guys chasing screen time in a low-budget movie called The Lords of Flatbush. But what happened during filming would kick off a feud that lasted for decade, all because of a sandwich.
The movie itself was meant to be a throwback to life in 1950s Brooklyn. Stallone had actually co-written the script, pulling from his own experiences growing up in Hell’s Kitchen. For him, this wasn’t just another acting job. It was personal. He was playing Stanley Rosiello, the tough guy with a hidden soft side. Stallone had been grinding it out in the industry for years, and this was his shot to prove he could lead a film.
Gear, on the other hand, came from a totally different background. He was trained in theater, very methodical and precise. He’d studied acting seriously, thought through every line, every gesture. He was cast as Chico Terrell, another one of the main guys in the gang. The role wasn’t complicated, but their styles couldn’t have been more different.
Right away, the two clashed. Stallone acted from the gut, raw and instinctive. Gear liked to analyze everything. It might have worked under different circumstances, but this wasn’t a big studio production. The budget was tiny, the schedule was tight, and the whole set was a pressure cooker. Everyone was already tense, hoping this little film might actually get noticed.
Then came the scene that blew everything up. It was supposed to be a simple car scene. All four leads were crammed into a car, running lines and getting ready to shoot. Lunch had just wrapped. Nothing fancy, just sandwiches from craft services. And that’s where things went sideways. Gear sitting next to Stallone in the car was eating one of those sandwiches loaded with mustard.
At some point, a glob of mustard slipped out and landed right on Stallone’s pants. Not a huge deal, right? Well, not if tensions hadn’t already been skyhigh. Without saying a word, Stallone snapped. He elbowed gear in the head hard and then grabbed him and shoved him right out of the car. Just tossed him onto the pavement like it was nothing. Everything stopped.
The set went dead quiet. Nobody knew what to do. Was this part of the scene? Was it a real fight? Either way, it was clear these two couldn’t work together. The director and producers had a choice to make. Keeping both actors would have meant daily chaos, but firing one meant re-shoots, lost money, and more delays.
In the end, they sided with Stallone. Gear was out. His role was recast, his scenes were reshot, and the official excuse was creative differences. But everyone on that set knew better. Stallone had made it clear this was his movie and anyone who crossed him was out for Gear. It was a humiliating way to get fired.
It wasn’t because he couldn’t act or wasn’t right for the role. It was because of a mustard stain and Stallone’s explosive temper. And in an industry as small and gossipy as Hollywood, word got around fast. Gear never forgot it. That moment stuck with him. Stallone, meanwhile, came out of it looking like the alpha, someone who didn’t mess around when it came to protecting his projects.
But that came with a price. He’d shown he could be hotheaded, even petty, and not everyone was going to want to deal with that. Still, the message was clear. He wasn’t just another actor. He was the boss. Years later, both men became huge stars. Stallone, of course, hit it big with Rocky, and Gear went on to do American Jigalo and An Officer and a Gentleman.
But that mustard moment never really faded. It was the beginning of a long, quiet grudge that simmered behind the scenes for years. And it’s pretty wild when thinking about it. Two future icons of Hollywood feuding over a mustard stained pair of pants in the back of a cramped car.
But sometimes that’s all it takes. One small spark to light a fire that burns for decades. Some Hollywood beefs start over bruised egos or personal drama. But what happens when the whole thing is really just about money? Number four, Bruce Willis. Sylvester Stallone and Bruce Willis used to be tight. They were part of that small group of guys who completely ruled action movies in the 80s and 90s.
Stallone had Rocky and Rambo. Willis had Die Hard. Between them, they’d basically defined what a tough guy looked like on screen for a whole generation. By the time 2010 rolled around though, things had changed. Both of them were getting older, and the roles they used to land without blinking were getting harder to come by.
The action genre had shifted, and the days of muscle bound heroes blowing stuff up were fading. That’s when Stallone came up with the idea for The Expendables, a kind of throwback movie packed with old school action stars. It wasn’t just another gig for Stallone. This was personal. It was about honoring the golden era of action films and giving the legends one last moment to shine.
The first Expendables movie did great. Audiences loved it. It pulled in over $270 million. And suddenly, there was this renewed excitement around seeing the old action stars back together again. The second one did even better. It felt like the beginning of a whole new chapter, like they’d found a way to keep the fire going without pretending they were still in their 30s.
Willis was part of it from the start. He played a CIA guy named Church. Not a huge role, but he brought a certain weight to the team. Behind the scenes, he seemed to get what Stallone was going for. It was about camaraderie, loyalty, and throwing it back to the days when they were all in their prime.
But when it came time to make The Expendables 3, things got messy. Stallone was pumped. He wanted to make it bigger, tighter, better. He was trying to bring in even more legends. Harrison Ford, maybe a few surprise cameos. Everything was lining up. Then came the talks with Willis, and that’s where it all started to fall apart.
Willis’s team came back with a number that shocked everyone. $4 million for 4 days of work. Basically, a million bucks a day. No negotiation, no wiggle room, just pay up or we’re out. Now, this is Hollywood, right? Ridiculous paychecks aren’t exactly new, but this one hit different. These movies had worked so far because everyone was willing to take a little less.
It wasn’t about the paycheck. It was about the vibe. The whole point was that it wasn’t just about the money. It was about being part of something cool with the old crew. Willis’s demand felt like he didn’t care about any of that. Stallone saw it as more than just a number. To him, it was a slap in the face. He’d built this whole thing around the idea of brotherhood, and now one of the original guys was turning it into a business deal.
They tried to talk it out, hoping Willis would meet them halfway. But he wouldn’t budge, so Stallone had to choose. Give in or stand his ground. He stood his ground. Willis was out. They rewrote the script, cut his character, and brought in Harrison Ford instead. Ford showed up excited, professional, and ready to roll.
Basically, everything Stallone felt Willis hadn’t been. But Stallone didn’t stop there. He went public. He straight up called Willis greedy and lazy in interviews, which for Hollywood is wild. Usually people keep stuff like that behind closed doors, not Stallone. He made it clear he wasn’t afraid to burn that bridge. The fallout was brutal.
Suddenly, Willis had this label attached to him, hard to work with, all about the money, disconnected from the everyman charm that made John Mlan such a legend. People in the industry started whispering. Fans noticed his absence in The Expendables 3. and rumors started flying. Stallone, meanwhile, stuck to his guns.
He’d made it clear that the Expendables wasn’t just another paycheck. It was a passion project, and anyone who couldn’t respect that had no place being there. Expendables. Three still made decent money, over $200 million. But the vibe had definitely shifted. The shift was obvious. That whole brotherhood vibe had cracked. And even though the series kept moving forward, something felt off, like the heart of it had faded.
At the end of the day, this wasn’t just a contract dispute. It was a friendship, or at least a working relationship falling apart in real time, all over 4 days and some mustard level greed. But if Stallone thought Bruce Willis was greedy, wait until you hear about the friendship betrayal that shattered him completely.
What happens when your closest friend becomes your worst enemy? Number three, Eddie Murphy. Back in the late 80s, Sylvester Stallone and Eddie Murphy were at the top of their game. You couldn’t go to the movies without seeing one of their names on a poster. Stallone was the king of action with Rocky and Rambo, and Murphy had people rolling in the aisles with Beverly Hills Cop and Coming to America.
But beyond the fame, these two actually had something rare in Hollywood, a real friendship. They weren’t just friendly on red carpets. They partied together, laughed like old buddies at industry events, and supported each other’s careers without any of that fake Hollywood energy. It was the kind of bond one doesn’t see often.
Two guys from humble beginnings who made it big and never forgot the grind it took to get there. But then 1987 happened and just like that everything fell apart. The beginning of the end started during the making of Beverly Hills Cop 2. Stallone’s wife at the time, Bridget Nielsen, had a part in the movie. She was impossible to miss. Tall, blonde, and totally magnetic.
And of course, she was married to one of the biggest movie stars in the world. So, one would think she’d be off limits, right? Well, sets can be weird places. Long days, high energy, lots of downtime between takes. People get close fast. And before long, whispers started making the rounds.
People on set noticed Bridget and Eddie seemed a little too friendly. There were rumors. And in Hollywood, rumors travel fast and loud. Out of nowhere, things that used to feel normal started to feel weird. Every time Eddie cracked a joke and Sasha laughed, people were giving it side eye. Every time they chatted a little too long at a party or were spotted together on set, suddenly it was proof something shady was going on, whispers turned into headlines.
Little comments turned into fullblown gossip. It didn’t matter if there was any truth to it. What mattered was how it looked. And for Stallone, it looked bad. Think about it. Even if nothing was actually happening, just hearing your wife’s name constantly being thrown around in stories like that with your friend, that’ll rattle anyone.
It’s not just embarrassing, it’s emotional, it’s humiliating, and yeah, it’s infuriating. Every time he picked up a tabloid or someone made a joke in passing, it chipped away at him. He couldn’t just brush it off anymore. And Stallone’s not the kind of guy to let stuff simmer. He’s old school, straightforward.
So, he did what most Hollywood stars would never do. He skipped all the filters, no PR team, no publicist smoothing things over, no lawyers sending letters behind the scenes. He picked up the phone and called Eddie Murphy directly. And let’s be real, it wasn’t some polite, “Hey man, how have you been?” kind of call. This wasn’t casual. This was personal.
He was angry, hurt, confused, all of it. His voice probably cracked a little, maybe even raised. He needed answers, and he wanted them straight from Eddie’s mouth. What’s going on between you and Sasha? That was it. No sugar coating, no beating around the bush. Years of friendship were suddenly hanging by a thread.
One question and everything could change. Now imagine being on the other end of that call. Maybe Eddie was caught completely offguard. Maybe he already knew the rumors were out there. But either way, the pressure in that moment must have been intense. Two of Hollywood’s biggest stars, once friends, now tangled in a deeply personal mess that had nothing to do with movie scripts or box office numbers. Eddie denied everything.
He said nothing inappropriate happened. But when trust is shaken, especially in a marriage that’s already a little rocky, words don’t always fix things. Whether or not anything actually happened, Stallone couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right. And now you had two proud, powerful men on opposite sides of a very messy situation.
Stallone felt hurt and betrayed. Eddie felt blindsided that his friend believed the gossip. And just like that, a friendship that once seemed solid started to crack. Things only got worse once the press picked up on it. Hollywood loves drama and a falling out between two A-listers. That’s gold. People started whispering at parties.
Reporters started digging. Trade magazines hinted at tension and fallout. The whole thing turned into a public spectacle. From that point on, they weren’t just drifting apart. They were done. calls stopped. They stopped showing up at the same parties. If they ended up at the same event, they stayed on opposite sides of the room.
The warmth between them was gone, replaced with cold silence. Looking back, Eddie would later say how sad it was that things unraveled so quickly. years of friendship, shared experiences, and good memories, all gone because of rumors and broken trust. It didn’t help that the industry kept comparing them either. Who had the bigger box office weekend? Who had the better comeback? It was like the media turned them into rivals just to keep the story going.
But here’s the thing, both of them kept moving forward. Stallone kept doing his thing and so did Murphy. They stayed stars, but that piece of their journey, the genuine connection they once shared, was lost. And no matter how much time passed, it never really came back. There’s something really human about that. fame, money, success, none of it protects you from the kind of heartbreak that comes when a friendship falls apart, especially one that was real.
In the end, it wasn’t just about what did or didn’t happen on that movie set. It was about trust. Once that cracks, especially in a world as wild and image obsessed as Hollywood, it’s hard to fix, maybe even impossible. And so what started as one of Hollywood’s coolest friendships turned into just another story. One more what could have been in a town full of them.
Murphy’s betrayal hit hard, but nothing could have prepared Stallone for the ego clash that nearly wrecked his most legendary role. What do you even do when a Hollywood legend shows up and tries to rewrite your entire movie? Number two, Kirk Douglas. Back in 1982, Sylvester Stallone was on fire.
Rocky had turned him from a guy cleaning lion cages at the zoo into a household name. The underdog story hit a nerve with people. And suddenly, Stallone wasn’t just a star. He was the guy. But he wasn’t done yet. He had another character he wanted to bring to life. Someone darker, more intense. John Rambo.
First Blood wasn’t your typical action flick. Sure, there were explosions and stunts, but it had heart. Rambo wasn’t a superhero. He was a broken man, a Vietnam vet who felt completely out of place in a country he fought for. The story tapped into real stuff like PTSD, isolation, and how society treats soldiers. once the war is over. Stallone wasn’t just acting.
He was trying to say something. And after fighting so hard to keep control over Rocky, he wasn’t about to let anyone water this one down. Then Kirk Douglas showed up. Now Kirk Douglas was a big deal. We’re talking Hollywood royalty here. Spartacus, Paths of Glory, five decades of classic roles. When he expressed interest in playing Colonel Sam Troutman, Rambo’s former commanding officer and the only guy who truly got him, it felt like a win.
A legend playing opposite Stallone seemed perfect until it wasn’t. From the jump, Douglas made it clear he wasn’t just there to read lines. He’d read the book First Blood was based on and decided the movie needed a different ending. In the book, Rambo Dies, shot by Troutman. Douglas wanted that back in.
Not suggested, not discussed, demanded. He thought the death gave it more weight, more drama. And let’s be real, it gave him the big emotional moment to go out on. Director Ted Cotchef was suddenly stuck between a rock and a hard place. Stallone on one side, Douglas on the other. Stallone had been working on this for months.
He wasn’t just acting in it. He was helping shape the whole thing. He saw First Blood as the beginning of something bigger. Douglas, on the other hand, didn’t care about future sequels. He wanted an ending that made him look great right now. and he wasn’t subtle about it either. Douglas would literally talk about himself in the third person in meetings.
Stuff like Kirk Douglas wouldn’t say this lines or Kirk needs a stronger motivation here. He brought his own rewrites to set trying to reshape the movie around his version of the character. It was awkward and it brought everything to a screeching halt. While Stallone and Coach were trying to fine-tune the movie, they were now also trying to manage Kirk Douglas’s ego.
Long nights, script changes, endless back and forths. Everyone on set could feel the tension. It wasn’t just two creative minds disagreeing. It was a full-on clash of worlds. New Hollywood versus old Hollywood. And neither side was budging. Stallone was especially frustrated. He’d fought too hard for control just to have someone else try to rewrite the story last minute.
But Douglas kept pushing for that original ending where Troutman kills Rambo over and over again. Eventually, Kachchef had had enough. He sat Douglas down and basically said, “This is the movie we’re making. This is the script you agreed to. If you don’t want to do it, you can leave. No yelling, no drama, just facts.
And that’s exactly what happened. Douglas walked. Now, here’s where things could have totally fallen apart. Losing a bigname actor just days into filming, that kind of thing can destroy a movie. But in this case, it turned out to be a weird blessing. They called up Richard Krena and he jumped in with almost no prep. The guy had 24 hours.
He was memorizing lines on the way to the set, but he showed up, nailed it, and ended up giving a performance that felt right. He wasn’t trying to steal scenes. He wasn’t changing lines. He just played the character with a kind of quiet strength that made you believe he really cared about Rambo.
He brought warmth to the role that balanced out all the intensity from Stallone. That switch from Douglas to Krena changed the whole dynamic. Instead of being this cold, dramatic ending, the movie became something else, something more hopeful. And it left the door open for sequels, which of course ended up being a huge deal for Stallone.
The whole Kirk Douglas mess became one of those career-defining lessons. He saw firsthand how protecting your vision sometimes means making tough calls, even if it means going head-to-head with a legend. But he stuck to his gut, and it paid off. First Blood became a hit. It showed that Stallone wasn’t just a one-trick pony with Rocky.
It launched a franchise, gave pop culture one of its most iconic characters, and reminded everyone that sometimes the best decisions are the ones that feel the riskiest in the moment. And maybe most importantly, it proved that even when Hollywood royalty storms off set, the show can still go on. And sometimes it turns out even better.
If Kirk Douglas was old Hollywood’s tough guy, Stallone’s next enemy hit way closer to home. But here’s the twist. Could this brutal rivalry be the thing that actually kept both their careers alive? Number one, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Back in 1977, Sylvester Stallone walked into the Golden Globes thinking it might finally be his night.
Just a few months before, he was so broke he’d seriously thought about robbing a store to survive. That’s how bad it had gotten. But then, Rocky changed everything. He went from cleaning lion cages to being nominated for best actor and best screenplay. That night was supposed to be the cherry on top of his massive comeback.
And then Arnold Schwarzenegger showed up. Arnold came in like a human wall, huge, confident, and with that thick Austrian accent that made every sentence sound like a punchline. He walked right up to Stallone and said, “Hi, I’m Arnold Schwarzenegger, new talent of the year.” Stallone took one look at him and thought, “Who’s this guy? Another muscle head trying to make it big in Hollywood?” He didn’t take him seriously at all.
But then the award started rolling out. And Rocky didn’t win. Not a single one. Meanwhile, Arnold did win. He actually took home the Golden Globe for New Star of the Year. Stallone was stunned. And according to him, Arnold spent the whole night laughing every time Rocky got snubbed. It hit a nerve. Eventually, Stallone got so pissed he grabbed a giant bouquet of flowers and chucked it at Arnold’s head.
That moment kicked off what would become one of Hollywood’s pettiest, most entertaining rivalries. A 15-year back and forth that was part ego war, part arms race, and part comedy show. All rolled into one. The 80s turned into their personal battlefield. At first, Stallone ruled the space. He had Rocky 2, three, and four.
Then dropped First Blood, turning John Rambo into a cultural icon. At that point, he was action movies. But Arnold wasn’t just going to stand back and let Sly have all the glory. He saw Rambo, saw Stallone shredded on screen, and thought, “Wait a second. He’s in my lane. I’m the muscle guy. I’m the freaking bodybuilder.
” That’s when Arnold flipped the switch. He came out swinging with Conan the Barbarian, followed it up with the Terminator, then Predator, and every single one felt like it was designed to one up whatever Stallone had done. The competition got so heated that people in the industry started whispering about how they were trying to sabotage each other’s movies.
Stallone would show up with bigger guns in Rambo. Arnold brought out something even more ridiculous. Arnold got ripped for Conan. Stallone added 10 more abs for Rocky 4. It got ridiculous in the best way, and they weren’t shy about throwing shade either. Arnold had a scene in Twins where he walks past a Rambo poster and scoffs. Stallone saw that and went full revenge mode.
In Tango and Cash, he beat up a prison inmate who was clearly an Arnold knockoff. Not once, but twice. First, he beat the guy down. Then later, he smashed his face so hard it was unrecognizable. Real subtle, right? But the biggest troll of all time. That came later. And it was genius. So, there was this really bad script going around for a comedy called Stop or My Mom Will Shoot.
Arnold read it and instantly knew it was a train wreck, but instead of just passing, he pulled the ultimate move. He pretended he wanted the role. Word got back to Stallone, who of course was still trying to outdo Arnold, and he rushed to get it first. He pulled every string he had just to land this terrible part.
Arnold sat back and watched the chaos unfold. Stallone got the role, made the movie, and it was a total disaster. Critics tore it apart. Fans hated it. It tanked at the box office. And just to twist the knife, reviews even said Stallone was trying and failing to copy Arnold’s success in comedy. Talk about brutal. It was a career low point for Stallone.
And Arnold, he was somewhere laughing his ass off. But karma doesn’t play favorites. Not long after, Arnold starred in Junior, a movie where he literally gets pregnant. That one bombed just as hard, if not harder. Suddenly, both of these action titans were nursing wounds from failed comedies, and their rivalry started to feel less like a battle and more like two guys punching themselves in the face.
Eventually, the war fizzled out. They both took some time to recover, refocus, and find their footing again. And funny enough, years later, they actually became friends. They did a few movies together, poked fun at their old beef, and finally moved on. Turns out, it’s hard to stay mad forever, even if you once threw flowers at someone’s head on national TV.
In the end, their feud gave us some of the most memorable action movies of all time. And while they spent years trying to tear each other down, they also pushed each other to be better. Whether it was Rocky, Terminator, Rambo, or Predator, those classics might not have existed the way they do if these two guys weren’t secretly or not so secretly trying to oneup each other at every turn.
Honestly, the rivalry might have been petty and over-the-top, but it was entertaining. Thank you for watching. Like, comment, and subscribe. Also, check out another interesting video by clicking on the video shown on your screen. See you on the other
