I Am the Iconic Line Kid from the Classic 1990 Film: A Candid Conversation.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is best known as an action movie legend. However, at the height of his cinematic dominance in the eighties and nineties, he also delivered several genuinely hilarious comedies. Chief among them is Kindergarten Cop, which marks its three-and-a-half decade milestone this winter.

The Film and That Line

In the hit comedy, Schwarzenegger portrays a undercover cop who poses as a elementary educator to track down a criminal. Throughout the film's runtime, the investigation plot serves as a simple backdrop for Schwarzenegger to film humorous scenes with children. The most unforgettable involves a child named Joseph, who spontaneously rises and informs the actor, “It's boys who have a penis, and girls get a vagina.” Schwarzenegger deadpans, “I appreciate the insight.”

That iconic child was brought to life by child star Miko Hughes. Beyond this role included a recurring role on Full House as the bully to the child stars and the pivotal role of the child who returns in the screen translation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He still works in film today, with multiple films in development. Additionally, he engages with fans at fan conventions. Not long ago discussed his experiences from the filming of the classic 35 years later.

Memories from the Set

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

Miko Hughes: I believe I was four. I was the smallest of all the kids on set.

That's remarkable, I have no memory from being four. Do you retain any flashes from that time?

Yeah, to a degree. They're brief images. They're like picture memories.

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

My parents, primarily my mom would take me to auditions. Sometimes it was like a cattle call. There'd be dozens of children and we'd all simply wait around, enter the casting office, be in there less than five minutes, do whatever little line they wanted and then leave. My parents would feed me the lines and then, as soon as I could read, that was probably the first stuff I was reading.

Do you have any recollection of meeting Arnold? What was your impression of him?

He was extremely gentle. He was fun. He was good-natured, which I guess makes sense. It would have been odd if he was a dick to all the kids in the classroom, that surely wouldn't foster a productive set. He was great to work with.

“It would have been odd if he was unpleasant to all the kids in the classroom.”

I was aware he was a big action star because my family informed me, but I had not actually watched his movies. I felt the importance — he was a big deal — but he wasn't scary to me. He was simply playful and I only wanted to hang out with him when he wasn't busy. He was working hard, but he'd kind of play with us here and there, and we would dangle from his limbs. He'd show his strength and we'd be holding on. He was really, really generous. He purchased for each child in the classroom a personal stereo, which at the time was a major status symbol. It was the must-have gadget, that iconic bright yellow cassette player. I played the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for ages on that thing. It eventually broke. I also received a real silver whistle. He had the referee's whistle, and the kids all got a whistle as well.

Do you remember your experience as being positive?

You know, it's amusing, that movie became a phenomenon. It was a major production, and it was a wonderful time, and you would think, in retrospect, I would want my memories to be of collaborating with Schwarzenegger, working with [director] Ivan Reitman, traveling to Oregon, being on a professional set, but my memories are of being a selective diner at lunch. For example, they got everyone pizza, but I didn't even like pizza. All I would eat was the toppings only. Then, the original Game Boy was just released. That was the coolest toy, and I was quite skilled. I was the smallest kid and some of the bigger kids would hand me their devices to beat difficult stages on games because I knew how, and I was really proud of that. So, it's all little kid memories.

The Infamous Moment

OK, the infamous quote, do you remember anything about it? Did you grasp the meaning?

At the time, I probably didn't know what the word shocking meant, but I realized it got a reaction and it caused the crew to chuckle. I knew it was kind of something I wasn't supposed to do, but I was given approval in this case because it was funny.

“My mom thought hard about it.”

How it originated, from what I understand, was they hadn't finalized all the dialogue. A few scenes were written into the script, but once they had the whole cast on the set, it wasn't necessarily improv, but they refined it on set and, reportedly the filmmakers came to my mom and said, "There's a concept. We want Miko to deliver this dialogue. Are you okay with this?" My mom didn't agree right away. She said, "Give me a moment, let me sleep on it" and took a day or two. It was a tough call for her. She said she wasn't sure, but she thought it would likely become one of the most memorable lines from the movie and her instinct was correct.