Sylvester Stallone has recalled a physical altercation with Richard Gere on the set of the 1974 film The Lords of Flatbush, saying it led to Gere’s dismissal from the production, per ew.com.
Stallone gave the account in his memoir, The Steps, published on September 29.
Stallone wrote that the animosity began during auditions, where he also met Robert De Niro. He said improvisation sessions with De Niro went well, but those with Gere turned sour.
“Gere grabbed my T-shirt and his fingernails dug into my skin,” Stallone wrote. He said he told Gere to back off, but the actor repeated the move on the second take.
Stallone said he asked director Stephen Verona whether he could react as he would in real life. Verona replied that he would “knock his teeth out”. Stallone said he asked him not to.
The tension came to a head during a lunch break, as the pair ate in a parked car on set. Stallone said he had warned Gere not to make a mess, but chicken grease spilled from foil paper onto his leg.
He said he elbowed Gere across the chest, got out of the car and pulled him from the back seat. “Hey, man, I don’t want to get physical,” Gere reportedly said. Stallone replied: “Too late.” Verona then stepped between them.
Stallone wrote that it was clear “one of us had to go”. He said Verona chose to keep him and fire Gere. De Niro left shortly afterwards for another project, and Perry King and Henry Winkler joined the cast in their place.
The rift appears to have lasted decades. In his 2019 memoir, Elton John wrote that Stallone and Gere nearly came to blows again in the 1990s at a dinner party attended by Princess Diana. John said the two actors were later found “squaring up to each other” over Diana’s growing friendship with Gere.