Sylvester Stallone Loses Oscar, but Gets Praise from Arnold

Sylvester Stallone and Jennifer Flavin arrive at the Oscars on Sunday.

Sylvester Stallone is still not an Academy Award winner.

Despite many people pegging him to get an acting win in what’s probably his best acting performance ever, Stallone did not take home the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor last night at the Oscars. Mark Rylance won the award for his role in Bridge of Spies.

But no matter! Sly got a nice runner-up prize from none other than Arnold Schwarzenegger, once Stallone’s bitter rival and now, apparently, a friend who offers pick-me-ups.

.@TheSlyStallone To me, you're the best, no matter what they say. pic.twitter.com/zs4ZLl1nhY

— Arnold (@Schwarzenegger) February 29, 2016

What’s great is Schwarzenegger talks in generic terms. That way, Stallone can use the video to cheer himself up in any situation!

For what they’re worth, the online odds favored Stallone. Irish bookmaker Paddy Power had Stallone a 5/2 favorite. Stallone won multiple plaudits from critics and other awards shows for his work in Creed; he won a Golden Globe (and forgot to thank director Ryan Coogler and star Michael B. Jordan after his win, though he returned to thank them on stage during a commercial break).

It’s the second time Stallone has lost an acting nomination. Rocky won Best Picture in 1976, and John G. Avildsen took home the Best Director Oscar that year as well. But Sylvester Stallone lost to Peter Finch (playing Howard Beale in Network).

There are already preliminary talks about making a sequel to Creed, though various plots have been discussed in the media. Stallone originally intended Rocky to be a trilogy where Rocky would become mayor but return to boxing when he got impeached. Maybe the new Creed movie can be depressing like that and win Stallone his Oscar there!

Follow @dhm on Twitter.