Watch: Arnold Schwarzenegger crashes reunion of the 'Kindergarten Cop' kids
For the 30th anniversary of Kindergarten Cop, Yahoo Entertainment reunited Mr. Kimble with some of his former Astoria Elementary School pupils.
Arnold Schwarzenegger Zoom-bombed a virtual reunion with several of the now-grown child actors from Ivan Reitman's 1990 film, and the "kids" were completely surprised and delighted to see their "teacher" for the first time in 30 years.
The group shared behind-the-scenes stories from the set of the film including many of the iconic lines and moments, and Schwarzenegger got personal when he described how the movie made him a better parent to his own children, including author Katherine Schwarzenegger.
Video Transcript
ETHAN ALTER: But I think someone's trying to get in. So let's see if we can welcome someone in.
KRYSTLE MATARAS: There's a surprise.
MIKO HUGHES: Are you serious?
ADAM WILEY: What? No way.
ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER: Hello.
CHRISTIAN COUSINS: What's up, Arnold?
KRYSTLE MATARAS: Oh my God.
- Arnold.
- Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!
ETHAN ALTER: Good afternoon, Astoria Elementary kindergarten class. Now your teacher, Mr. Kimble, is out today, but I'm going to be taking his place for now. I'm Ethan Alter from Yahoo Entertainment, and we're here talking about your memories of being in kindergarten with Mr. Kimble.
So I'm going to give-- take roll call, and when I call your name, just repeat back and say who you played in the 1990 classic "Kindergarten Cop," which celebrates its 30th anniversary today, December 21. All right, first up, Christian Cousins.
CHRISTIAN COUSINS: One half of the enterprise that made the character Dominic for the movie. My dad's a drug dealer and very dangerous, and my grandma is even worse.
MIKO HUGHES: Hey, Miko Hughes. My dad's a gynecologist and he looks at vaginas all day long. And boys have a penis. Girls have a vagina.
- Boys have a penis. Girls have a vagina.
TIFFANY MATARAS: Hi. I'm Tiffany.
KRYSTLE MATARAS: No, actually I'm Rina.
TIFFANY MATARAS: And I'm Tiny.
KRYSTLE MATARAS: She's Tina. Krystle, Tiffany.
- And our mom says that our dad is a real sex machine. [LAUGHS]
- Our mom says that our dad is a real sex machine.
BRIAN WAGNER: Brian Wagner, William, better known as the only person to ever get away with spitting out food on Arnold Schwarzenegger.
ADAM WILEY: Hi, Adam Wiley, and I played Larry, and I'm here to tell you that Mr. Kimble is, in fact, all right.
- Mr. Kimble, are you all right?
ETHAN ALTER: Miko, for you, we got a taste of what your dad does for a living. Did you audition with that line?
MIKO HUGHES: That's a good question. From what I understand, I believe I was the youngest of the kids in the classroom. So I honestly probably remember the least of the filming process.
CHRISTIAN COUSINS: You were 30.
MIKO HUGHES: Yeah. I don't remember the audition, but I do know my mom said they wanted to use me for something, but they didn't know what. And it was kind of on the fly that they came up with the boys have a penis, girls have a vagina line just to give me something. And she really thought about it for a really long time if it was a good idea. Like, how is this going to play off? You know, is this going to affect me later?
And she thought, you know, it's innocent. It's cute. Why not? Like, it'll be memorable. And yeah, I'm glad-- I'm glad she went for it.
ETHAN ALTER: Brian, to ask you, as you said, you were bodily lifted up by Arnold and spit food all over him. What do you remember about being lifted up by this huge guy and sort of shaken around?
BRIAN WAGNER: We did it 17 times. 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. And we're on a sound stage in Los Angeles, so I'm not hitting concrete floor. I'm hitting floor that's built on top of a floor, so there's a little bit of give there.
And the very first take, I had spit out the Cheetos, and Arnold drops me. He walks away. Camera pans down. And I was-- you know, I was seven years old. I still didn't know, you know, what I was doing. I picked up the Cheetos from the ground and put them back in [INAUDIBLE].
[LAUGHTER]
ADAM WILEY: Can I ask you a real question, Brian?
BRIAN WAGNER: Yes.
ADAM WILEY: After 17 takes, you hadn't had enough Cheetos? All right.
[INTERPOSING VOICES]
MIKO HUGHES: He was in character.
ADAM WILEY: Have you eaten Cheetos since?
BRIAN WAGNER: Honestly, I've maybe had the original Cheeto maybe three or four times in my life.
ADAM WILEY: See, not shocked. Not shocked at all.
- Stop it!
ETHAN ALTER: How about the backpack scene on the telecom--
CHRISTIAN COUSINS: OK, so they did drop me, like, 15, 20 times, like, 20 feet on that thing, and it was like a ride. Then it got hard to keep intensity at the scene because it was a lot of fun. You know, I'm supposed to all of a sudden just "phew."
And then at first I was scared. And then the second time I was like, I can get used to this. By, like, take 10 where they got the birds to do what they want-- the pigeons had to fly off and this and everything. By the end of it I'm, like, practically like wee, you know? I wanted an annual pass.
- Help!
ETHAN ALTER: Tiffany, Krystle, you mentioned earlier that your dad liked your line in particular.
- Our mom says that our dad is a real sex machine.
TIFFANY MATARAS: We were supposed to say something very generic, very boring. And we were literally on the set in front of the cameras--
KRYSTLE MATARAS: And I went blank.
TIFFANY MATARAS: Yeah.
KRYSTLE MATARAS: I forgot my line.
TIFFANY MATARAS: And then the writer wrote that line on set, and then he had to rush our parents on set to get approval in order for us to say the line. And when they asked our dad, we saw him in front. He was like, yes, yes, yes. Say that. Say that.
KRYSTLE MATARAS: And our mom was like-- but our dad was like.
TIFFANY MATARAS: Mom was like--
MIKO HUGHES: He was so happy.
TIFFANY MATARAS: Oh my God.
KRYSTLE MATARAS: It made him the happiest man on Earth.
- Dominic! Dominic!
[GROANING]
[GUN SHOT]
ADAM WILEY: I believe there's alternate endings as well where Mr. Kimble dies.
ETHAN ALTER: Really? Oh wow. OK, we have to hear this. All right, what's the memory of him dying?
ADAM WILEY: I don't remember if the kids were actually used for that ending, but there were definitely alternate endings. There was a lot of choices between what to go with, and it ended up what it is at the end now, which I think was the-- I think that was the right choice.
MIKO HUGHES: What does happen? Honestly, I don't think I've seen it.
[LAUGHTER]
KRYSTLE MATARAS: Miko, you're like me. I haven't seen the movie since the screening. So I'm kind of--
[LAUGHTER]
- I love that.
ETHAN ALTER: I love it. I love it.
- He lives.
[WHISTLE]
- Hi, kids.
ETHAN ALTER: One second. Sorry. I hear someone knocking at the door. I got-- I got to-- I got a door open. I think someone's trying to get in. So let's see if we can welcome someone in.
MIKO HUGHES: Are you serious?
ADAM WILEY: What? No way.
ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER: Hello.
[SHOUTING]
CHRISTIAN COUSINS: What's up, Arnold?
KRYSTLE MATARAS: Oh my God.
ADAM WILEY: Arnold!
MIKO HUGHES: No way.
ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER: How are you guys doing?
TIFFANY MATARAS: No.
KRYSTLE MATARAS: We're in shock.
TIFFANY MATARAS: Oh my God.
ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER: Good.
KRYSTLE MATARAS: How are you feeling?
MIKO HUGHES: My mind is blown--
- Hello, Mr. Kimble.
MIKO HUGHES: --because I would have never expected this.
- Mr Kimble!
- I'm back.
ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER: What are you doing?
ADAM WILEY: So I'm still acting in all mediums. I'm fortunate enough to act a lot. And I'm also a world-champion magician, so there you go.
ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER: Oh, let's see that again. See, you've got to come over here and show me how to do that.
ETHAN ALTER: Arnold, I do have to ask about your famous line from the movie.
- It might be a tumor.
- It's not a tumor. It's not a tumor at all.
ETHAN ALTER: What can you tell us about doing that line and what you kids remember about hearing that in person?
ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER: There was sometimes when we realized that when I said some certain lines in the class because of my accent and because the way I say things, the kids were laughing. You know, so I would just, you know, scream loud. It's not a tumor! It's not a tumor at all! You know, and the kids would be laughing instead of being scared.
And so Ivan Reitman ran over to me afterwards. He says, I'm going to print that this is a winner because if the kids laugh at the way you sound, then I think the audience will laugh too, and this is exactly what happened. So this line kind of became kind of a classic line.
ETHAN ALTER: I feel like you have to say something to Arnold. Don't you have something to say, Miko?
ADAM WILEY: Miko, go for it.
MIKO HUGHES: That boys have a penis, girls have a vagina.
[LAUGHTER]
ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER: I mean, that is the classic line. Especially the way you delivered it was not like you wanted to kind of say something obnoxious but it's kind of a revelation. You know, do you know? It was almost kind of do you know that? I mean, this--
MIKO HUGHES: Just matter of fact.
ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER: --is the difference between girls and boys. It was like so matter of fact, the whole thing. It was so fantastic. Those lines, I mean, it's like-- you know, this movie, without any doubt, it was the performance of you kids that really made this movie because that's what made it endearing. That's what made it successful and people wanted to watch it over and over again.
So, I mean, to me, it was like the greatest experience, and it was, like, also funny because it was a warm-up for my kids because I really didn't know anything about, you know, how to be a kindergarten teacher. And that was the character that I also played, so it didn't matter.
But the thing is hanging out with you guys between the breaks and talking to you guys and all that, this movie really helped me become a better parent myself with my kids because after that, I-- you know, my daughter was born in 1990. She was then one year old. And then subsequently after that, I had another few kids. And so it really helped me raise my kids.
As a matter of fact, I just want to say right off the top, I think it was stupid for us not to do that in the past, but I think we should get together when this coronavirus is over. We should have a reunion. We have it right over here.
ADAM WILEY: Totally great. So in.
ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER: We have it right over here in my house.
MIKO HUGHES: That would be awesome.
ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER: We get together and have a party and really go and get the gossip going because I want--
[LAUGHTER]
--all the details of how you got, you know, from 30 years ago. I will organize.
- Yes.
ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER: OK?
- Please.
- Please.
ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER: That's a fact.
- We love it.
MIKO HUGHES: I hope that happens. I would love that.
ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER: I'm proud of all of you, OK? So keep up the great work.
TIFFANY MATARAS: Thank you so much.
MIKO HUGHES: Thank you.
CHRISTIAN COUSINS: Thank you
- Mr. Kimble.
ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER: See you. Bye-bye.
TIFFANY MATARAS: Bye.
KRYSTLE MATARAS: Mr. Christmas.
ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER: Have a good day.
CHRISTIAN COUSINS: Merry Christmas.
ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER: I'll be back.
[LAUGHTER]
- Thank you very much.
[APPLAUSE]
