When Arnold Schwarzenegger named ‘Kindergarten Cop’ his favourite film
From the world of bodybuilding to film and politics, Arnold Schwarzenegger has seen many walks of life in various industries. The actor is the face of American action movies, including James Cameron’s sci-fi hit The Terminator and the horror Predator, directed by John McTiernan. As one of Hollywood’s biggest and most successful leading men, earning roughly $42 million annually, the actor has several potential favourite roles. The unexpected all-time favourite is Kindergarten Cop.
This film is an action comedy directed by Ivan Reitman and released in 1990. The movie follows Schwarzenegger’s detective John Kimble going undercover as a kindergarten teacher to catch one of the student’s criminal fathers. After dominating the classroom with a brutal iron fist inspired by his real career, Kimble finds himself falling in love with teaching and being involved with the children’s well-being.
“I think Kindergarten Cop [is my favourite],” Schwarzenegger revealed on the Late Late Show. “I think one of the comedies [would be my favourite] because for so many years, I tried to get into comedy, and I couldn’t.”
Kindergarten Cop was the star’s second comedy performance, having transitioned from serious and hard-hitting action flicks to lighthearted family comedies in 1988 Twins, also directed by Reitman and where he co-starred as Danny DeVito’s twin brother. His later comedic roles include the festive Jingle All The Way and Junior.
The star referenced this switch in movie genres during the interview, mentioning his team’s hesitant reaction. “The studios made all this money from the action movies. They said, ‘Why would we go and change the mould? We’re making a lot of money with you. We keep giving you action scripts'”, Schwarzenegger added.
The star reportedly bagged $15 million from his role as The Terminator, as the film grossed $78.3 million at the box office against a $6.4 million budget. Furthermore, Predator racked in $98.3 million against a $15 million outlay, earning its leading hero $3.5 million.
However, they eventually came around, and Scharznegger got to test the waters with some lighter-hearted performances. “Then, when I finally met Ivan Reitman and when we did Twins, and then we did Kindergarten Cop, I was in heaven,” he shares. “It was such a great director and working with Danny DeVito. It was really great”.
Given the initial concern about money, the aftermath of the star’s decision was ironic. Twins was a commercial success, earning $216.6 million at the box office. Rather than taking their regular salaries, Schwarzenegger and DeVito settled on taking 40% of the film’s earnings, resulting in the actors’s highest paychecks.
“Being realistic and level-headed about business enabled the three of us to add a little chapter to Hollywood business history,” Schwarzenegger revealed. “We knew that selling Twins in the usual way would be difficult. In theory, the studios would love the idea: you just had to picture me and Danny DeVito next to each other on a movie poster. But in reality, what we were proposing was an offbeat picture by three expensive guys.”
As for Kindergarten Cop, Scharznegger’s second comedy film earned $202 million against a $26 million budget, resulting in Scharznegger making $12 million.
Watch a clip below.
