The Terminator, Commando and Predator, Schwarzenegger in 1988 tried something new by co-starring with Danny DeVito in the mismatched-pair comedy Twins.
To the surprise of many people at the time, Schwarzenegger did more than hold his own alongside comedy veteran DeVito in Twins, he actually stole the movie with his own comedic chops. Having shown the world he could do more than waste bad guys and deliver one-liners, Schwarzenegger went on to tackle another big acting challenge in 1990’s Kindergarten Cop, which pitted the action hero against an entire cast of precocious kid actors. Audiences approved of Schwarzenegger’s new, slightly softer and sillier style of cop movie as the film went on to gross $202 million at the box office.
30 years after Kindergarten Cop delighted Schwarzenegger fans, while adding “It’s not a tumor!” to the actor’s repertoire of famous one-liners, several of the movie’s former kid actors got together for a virtual reunion hosted by Yahoo! Entertainment. After spending quite awhile reminiscing about their roles in the still-beloved movie, the now-grown up kids of Kindergarten Cop got a big surprise when Schwarzenegger himself popped into the call to share his own memories about the movie. See the video in the space below (Schwarzenegger appears at the 35:26 mark):
Among the stories shared in the above video by Schwarzenegger and his delighted former castmates is an anecdote about how the famous “It’s not a tumor” line came about. As it turns out, director Ivan Reitman was the one who first recognized that the line would into Schwarzenegger lore forever, as the actor shared:
“There were certain lines that, because of my accent, the kids were laughing. So I would just be screaming, ‘It’s not a tumor, it’s not a tumor at all!’ and the kids would be laughing instead of being scared. Ivan told me, ‘If the kids are laughing at the way you sound, then I think the audience will laugh, too. And this is exactly what happened.”
Elsewhere in the video, Brian Wagner (who played William) talks about the scene where he had to spit up on Schwarzenegger, and reveals that the moment caused the action star to go off script. “The script was written so that Arnold would set me down. The first time it happened to him, he was so disgusted, he just dropped me.” Adam Wylie (who played Larry) also talked about the movie’s alternate ending, which would have gone down a dark road by having Schwarzenegger’s character die after being shot by the movie’s drug dealer bad guy. In the film as released, Schwarzenegger survives but retires from the police force to become a kindergarten teacher full time.
Kindergarten Cop obviously was not just a big hit, it had true impact on the culture by introducing the trope of the action star “softening” his image by starring in a movie with a kid or kids. In recent years, everyone from Dwayne Johnson (The Tooth Fairy) to Vin Diesel (The Pacifier) to Dave Bautista (My Spy) has tried the move, but none has succeeded as well as Schwarzenegger with Kindergarten Cop. As the reunion video shows, the kids who starred in the movie still have fond memories about the experience, as does Schwarzenegger himself. This in itself is a heartwarming holiday tale.
Source: Yahoo Entertainment!/YouTube
