Stories about on-set fights between Rutger Hauer and Sylvester Stallone are still talked about amongst fans of this movie and both actors. In his autobiography, Hauer stated that Stallone had come off a recent string of box office bombs, and was in desperate need of a hit movie.
Hauer felt that many of the on-set clashes stemmed from Stallone's constant efforts to keep tight control over every aspect of the film's production (such as replacing original director Gary Nelson with Bruce Malmuth). However, Hauer also said during interviews in later years that he actually didn't take his arguments with Stallone personally, and that the biggest problem during filming was that it was a very difficult movie to make. From his part, Stallone has expressed deep regret over his behavior in the 1980s during a 2014 interview, stating that the success of Rocky (1976) had made him
"insufferable"; by his own admission, he "abused power and was an authority on everything",
", and wished that he
"could go back and punch myself in the face"