Big screen icon Sylvester Stallone has been a Hollywood darling for decades, and he knows how to stay in the headline. Stallone has made waves with his massive paychecks, his missed opportunities, and even his love life.
Earlier in Stallone's career, before he was a massive star, he found himself in a head-on collision with another future star: Richard Gere.
Let's take it back to the '70s, and see what happened between these two big names.
Sylvester Stallone Commands A Premium For His Films
The action genre is one that has been loaded with exceptional stars through the years, and it's easy to look and see that Sylvester Stallone is one of the finest stars that the genre has ever seen.
Stallone always had the acting chops, but once he put pen to pad and penned Rocky, he became a global sensation who was going to spend the next several decades enjoying success in Hollywood.
Outside the Rocky franchise, Stallone has also starred in the Rambo and Expendables franchises, and has been the lead star in numerous hit films.
Just how successful has Stallone been in Hollywood? His movies have raked in a collective $6.4 billion, and the man himself is worth a monstrous $400 million fortune.
Of course, Stallone wasn't always a star, and earlier in his career, he had some serious work to do. During that time, Stallone starred in a movie that has since gone down in infamy.
Stallone Initially Co-Starred With Richard Gere On 'The Lords Of Flatbush'
In 1974, a young and still unproven Sylvester Stallone starred in The Lords of Flatbush. Never heard of it? Well, the movie isn't exactly regarded as a classic, but it still gave Stallone an opportunity to hone his acting chops.
According to IMDb, the film is about "two members of a social club in 1950s Brooklyn have more interest in romance than in rumbles."
Aside from Stallone, the film also featured performers like Henry Winkler, Perry King and more. The film carried a smaller budget, though it still looked to do some good things with critics, and at the box office upon release. Overall, it had decent reviews, and it was able to take in a modest $4 million at the box office.
Now, this movie nearly looked a whole lot different, as initially, Richard Gere was cast as on of the leads in the movie. Instead of being able to look back on a feature that starred two stars on the rise, we instead get to look at a red-hot feud that hit a boiling point on set.
Richard Gere And Sylvester Stallone Did Not Get Along
So, what in the world happened between Richard Gere and Sylvester Stallone on the set of The Lords of Flatbush, and how did Stallone get Gere canned from the film? Well, the two just didn't get along.
"Yeah, the original part of Chico, which was played by Perry King, was originally supposed to be played by Richard Gere, but we never hit it off. He would strut around in his oversized motorcycle jacket like he was the baddest knight at the round table," Stallone said.
From that point, things only got worse between the two actors.
"One day, during an improv, he grabbed me (we were simulating a fight scene) and got a little carried away. I told him in a gentle fashion to lighten up, but he was completely in character and impossible to deal with," he continued.
Eventually, a meal proved to be the straw that broke the camel's back.
"I was eating a hotdog and he climbs in with a half a chicken covered in mustard with grease nearly dripping out of the aluminum wrapper. I said, “That thing is going to drip all over the place.” He said, “Don’t worry about it.” I said, “If it gets on my pants you’re gonna know about it.” He proceeds to bite into the chicken and a small, greasy river of mustard lands on my thigh. I elbowed him in the side of the head and basically pushed him out of the car," the actor said.
Just like that, Gere was gone, and Stallone maintains that his former co-star still dislikes him.
This interesting bit of movie history just goes to show that off-screen chemistry is incredibly important while filming.