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When it comes to the best sports movies and the characters that drive their stories, it’s hard to think of a more inspirational quasi-hero than Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky Balboa. Thankfully, the Oscar-nominated actor and screenwriter shares some Rocky franchise lore in his first big sit-down interview opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger for Fox. In particular, he talks about the terrible-sounding pectoral tear he suffered that nearly derailed the production on Rocky II, which taps into fan speculation that the Predator and Terminator star may have been involved in some way.
For context, the TMZ Presents Arnold & Sly: Rival, Friends, Icons interview also directly addresses Schwarzenegger previously confessing to tricking Stallone into starring in the stinker Stop, Or My Mom Will Shoot!, which was arguably around the peak of their “out of control” feud in the ‘80s and early ‘90s. (Which Stallone had a sweet comeback for some years ago.) So there’s precedent for the former Mr. Olympia meddling maliciously with the other’s career path.
Before Sylvester Stallone gets into his own anecdote in the clip from TMZ, Schwarzenegger specifically points out that his training partner, the record-breaking strongman Franco Columbu, was Stallone’s trainer for Rambo, which led to their continued work together ahead of Rocky II. In his words:
I gotta tell you about Frank. This guy here, he was very eccentric. We’re working, and he goes, ‘Let’s have a competition with bench press.’ I said, ‘You won.’ He goes, ‘No, come anyway.’ So I go down, and it’s maybe only 200, and I’m just [warming up] and I hear, ‘Pow!’ I go, ‘Ugh,’ and I fall on the floor, and I’m going, ‘Ahh,’ and then Franco goes, ‘Let me see,’ and he jams his fingers. I’ve torn my pec off the bone. I mean, bad. I could hear it go rip, and he’s jamming his fingers then. I think I’m going to black out.
Now on the one hand, this could have been a naturally occurring incident, with Columbu known to be someone who regularly challenged others to feats of strength and endurance. But given the timing and the trainer’s close connections with Arnold Schwarzenegger, and it’s at least understandable why fans would be somewhat suspicious about whether or not the Last Action Hero vet was implicit in having Columbu overwork Stallone, even if there’s no way he could have intentionally planned for a detached pectoral muscle.
It’d be one thing if Stallone’s story pointed out that Franco Columbu immediately called an ambulance or a physical therapist in that could offer immediate assistance, but he only says that the trainer jammed his fingers into the muscles, which doesn’t seem like the smartest move regardless of what injury might have happened. So even if he wasn’t meaning to injure Stallone, the actor’s story doesn’t imply much help was offered, either.
Stallone continued, explaining how he turned his personal injury into a character decision that, in hindsight, did little to make the plot more plausible.
So I go home. I feel like my career is over. I’m supposed to start Rocky II — direct it, everything — in a month and a half. And I said I got to have this thing sewn up. Here’s the difference, and [Arnold] would have done the same thing. I can’t use this arm, so I’ll change it in Rocky; he’ll fight right-handed. Completely illogical, but I said ‘I’m not stopping this movie just for this.’
Stated in such a way, Sylvester Stallone makes it sound like there was pressure, and perhaps expectations, for him to put Rocky II on hold. Which sounds like just the kind of outcome that a rival actor would be hopeful for. But still, until Schwarzenegger speaks up and admits that he talked Franco Columbu into setting up that bench-press challenge, we’ll just have to keep assuming it was all accidental and circumstantial.
Of course, the fact that Stallone is such a workhorse makes it seem like any attempt to keep him from making Rocky II would have been 100% in vain. As he concluded his tale:
So in Rocky, that was one of the key things. It’s interesting the way these incredible journeys happen. But we don’t stop, we don’t quit.
They don’t quit, indeed. While Rocky II may not land so high in our ranked list of Rocky franchise movies, his persistence in bringing it together set the course for the next three films, as well as the Creed spinoffs, so I think we can all appreciate the actor’s dedication and ability to work through such a painful injury.
TMZ Presents Arnold & Sly: Rival, Friends, Icons airs Tuesday night on Fox at 8:00 p.m. ET.