Sly Stallone: I wanted to hurt Schwarzenegger

Sylvester Stallone wanted to strangle Arnold Schwarzenegger every day during the height of their rivalry.

The two macho movie men both broke new ground when it came to the role of buffed up action heroes during the '80s, with films such as the Terminator and Rocky franchises.

Their similar body shapes and movie choices meant they were often pitted against one another, which lead to a highly-publicised falling out.

"Did you ever have someone you wanted to strangle every day? It got to the point where we stopped talking to each other and couldn’t be in the same room,” Sylvester revealed in an interview with journalist Sandro Monetti.

“We came along at the same time, we started to pioneer this action thing - although I was first - and we were so competitive.”

While both men are now nearing their 70s, they still continue to play the role of tough guys in big budget blockbusters.

They even star alongside each other in The Expendables franchise, alongside fellow movie hard men Jason Statham, Jet Li and Dolph Lundgren.

However, teaming up on screen was unthinkable during the earlier stages of their career. Sylvester, 68, even accuses 67-year-old Arnold of fooling him into starring in 1992 flop Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot.

“I heard Arnold wanted to do that movie and after hearing that, I said I wanted to do it. He tricked me! He’s always been clever," he laughed.