Sylvester Stallone vs Richard Gere: a decades-long beef sparked by something ridiculous
Sylvester Stallone lifts the lid on how his decades-long feud with Richard Gere began — and the absurd spark that escalated it — in his memoir The Steps.
Here we go, another story from the vaults of old Hollywood drama, but this one edges on the ridiculous—Sylvester Stallone and Richard Gere, two blokes who’ve been at professional odds for donkey’s years, all over what basically amounts to an incident with a chicken sandwich and some rather intense method acting. Stallone’s recently spilled all the details, so let’s have a proper nose at what actually went down.
An Audition Turns Awkward
Back in the 1970s, before either man was a household name, Stallone and Gere found themselves in the same audition for The Lords of Flatbush. If you’re picturing a friendly read-through, forget it. Apparently, things got physical—Stallone says Gere got a bit too hands-on during their improvisation, digging his fingernails into Stallone’s chest. Stallone says he told Gere to knock it off, but according to him, Gere did it again the next take. Stallone asked the director, Stephen Verona, if he could "respond naturally", which, in his view, meant decking Gere. Verona wasn’t on board for that, so the tension simmered on.
The situation got even more farcical when the two ended up stuck together in a car during lunch to avoid the cold. According to Stallone’s memoir, Gere brought along some chicken—absolutely lathered in mustard and grease. Stallone warned Gere to be careful, but inevitably, some of the mess made its way right onto Stallone’s trousers. That’s when Stallone claims he’d had enough and reacted physically, pulling Gere out of the car. Gere’s response was to try and keep things from getting violent, but Stallone insisted it was too late for that. The director intervened before things got fully out of hand.
Stallone, looking back in his book, described telling the director that if he could "respond naturally" he would "knock [Gere’s] teeth out," and claims the director simply asked, "Please don’t."
This scuffle was the last straw—Verona had to make a call. He decided to keep Stallone and get rid of Gere, who was swiftly replaced by Perry King. For the record, Robert De Niro also bowed out, with Henry Winkler eventually joining the project. Not exactly a dream team-building seminar, but such was early '70s filmcasting, apparently.
The Aftershocks: Decades of Bad Blood
You’d think a chicken-related altercation on a B-movie would be ancient history, but according to multiple stories, neither man was keen to bury the hatchet. The two reportedly avoided each other for ages. Elton John even claimed in the '90s that the pair had another bit of argy-bargy at a dinner attended by Princess Diana. For what it’s worth, Stallone isn’t having that version of events, saying it never happened.
The fight during the The Lords of Flatbush shoot not only saw Richard Gere lose the role, but ignited a feud that would reportedly last for decades.