I'm Known As the Iconic Line Kid from the Arnold Schwarzenegger Comedy: An Interview.

The Austrian Oak is rightfully celebrated as an action movie legend. However, at the height of his star power in the eighties and nineties, he also starred in several surprisingly great comedies. The standout film is Kindergarten Cop, which celebrates its 35-year mark this holiday season.

The Film and The Famous Scene

In the 1990 movie, Schwarzenegger embodies a hardened detective who masquerades as a kindergarten teacher to track down a criminal. During the film's runtime, the investigation plot serves as a loose framework for Schwarzenegger to have charming interactions with kids. Without a doubt the standout belongs to a child named Joseph, who out of nowhere announces and declares the actor, “It's boys who have a penis, girls have a vagina.” Schwarzenegger deadpans, “Thank you for that information.”

The young actor was portrayed by former young actor Miko Hughes. Beyond this role included a recurring role on Full House as the schoolyard menace to the child stars and the haunting part of the resurrected boy in the screen translation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He still works in film today, with multiple films on the horizon. Additionally, he is a regular on fan conventions. Not long ago shared his experiences from the production over three decades on.

A Young Actor's Perspective

Question: Starting off, how old were you when you filmed Kindergarten Cop?

Miko Hughes: My understanding is I was four. I was the most junior of all the kids on set.

That's impressive, I have no memory from being four. Do you have any memories from that time?

Yeah, a little bit. They're snapshots. They're like picture memories.

Do you recall how you landed the job in Kindergarten Cop?

My mother, mainly would bring me to auditions. Often it was an open call. There'd be 20, 30 kids and we'd all patiently queue, be seen, be in there less than five minutes, do whatever little line they wanted and that was it. My parents would coach me on the dialogue and then, as soon as I could read, that was the initial content I was reading.

Do you have a specific memory of meeting Arnold? What was your impression of him?

He was very kind. He was enjoyable. He was good-natured, which I guess stands to reason. It'd be weird if he was mean to all the kids in the classroom, that probably wouldn't make for a productive set. He was great to work with.

“It would be strange if he was unpleasant to all the kids in the classroom.”

I knew he was a huge celebrity because I was told, but I had never really seen his movies. I sensed the excitement — he was a big deal — but he wasn't scary to me. He was merely entertaining and I only wanted to hang out with him when he had time. He was busy, obviously, but he'd sometimes engage here and there, and we would hang off of his arms. He'd show his strength and we'd be dangling there. He was incredibly giving. He gifted all the students in the classroom a yellow cassette player, which at the time was like an iPhone. That was the hottest tech out there, that funky old yellow cassette player. I used to rock out to the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for years on that thing on that thing. It wore out in time. I also received a authentic coach's whistle. He had the teacher's whistle, and the kids all were gifted copies as well.

Do you remember your days on set as being enjoyable?

You know, it's funny, that movie became a phenomenon. It was a major production, and it was an incredible opportunity, and you would think, looking back now, I would want my memories to be of collaborating with Schwarzenegger, the legendary director, the location shoot, seeing the set, but my memories are of being a finitely child at lunch. For example, they got everyone pizza, but I wasn't a pizza fan. All I would eat was the meat from the top. Then, the Nintendo Game Boy was new. That was the big craze, and I was proficient. I was the smallest kid and some of the bigger kids would bring me their Game Boys to beat difficult stages on games because I was able to, and I was felt accomplished. So, it's all little kid memories.

That Famous Quote

OK, the infamous quote, do you remember the context? Did you know what you were saying?

At the time, I wasn't fully aware of what the word taboo meant, but I realized it got a reaction and it caused the crew to chuckle. I was aware it was kind of something I shouldn't normally say, but I was given special permission in this case because it was humorous.

“It was a difficult decision for her.”

How it originated, from what I understand, was they hadn't finalized all the dialogue. Certain bits of dialogue were written into the script, but once they had the kids together, it wasn't pure improvisation, but they worked on it while filming and, reportedly the filmmakers came to my mom and said, "We're thinking. We want Miko to have this line. Are you okay with this?" My mom didn't agree right away. She said, "I need to consider this, let me sleep on it" and took a day or two. It was a tough call for her. She said she had doubts, but she thought it will probably be one of the most memorable lines from the movie and she was right.