I Was the Iconic Line Kid from the Arnold Schwarzenegger Comedy: A Candid Conversation.

The Austrian Oak is rightfully celebrated as an action movie legend. But, during the peak of his star power in the 1980s and 1990s, he also headlined several genuinely hilarious comedies. A prime example is Kindergarten Cop, which hits its 35th anniversary this holiday season.

The Story and An Iconic Moment

In the classic film, Schwarzenegger portrays a tough police officer who masquerades as a schoolteacher to locate a fugitive. Throughout the movie, the procedural element acts as a basic structure for Schwarzenegger to share adorable scenes with children. Arguably the most famous features a little boy named Joseph, who spontaneously rises and states the stoic star, “Boys have a penis, girls have a vagina.” Arnold responds dryly, “Thank you for that information.”

The boy behind the line was brought to life by child star Miko Hughes. In addition to this part featured a character arc on Full House as the bully to the child stars and the haunting part of the child who returns in the film version of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He continues to act today, with multiple films in development. Furthermore, he engages with fans at the con circuit. Not long ago shared his experiences from the production after all this time.

A Young Actor's Perspective

Q: To begin, 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 don't recall being four. Do you retain any flashes from that time?

Yeah, to a degree. They're flashes. They're like visual recollections.

Do you recall how you got the part in Kindergarten Cop?

My mother, mainly would accompany me to auditions. Sometimes it was a mass tryout. There'd be 20, 30 kids and we'd all simply wait around, be seen, be in there briefly, do whatever little line they wanted and then leave. My parents would help me learn the words and then, as soon as I could read, that was the initial content I was reading.

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

He was extremely gentle. He was fun. He was good-natured, which I suppose stands to reason. It would be strange if he was a dick to all the kids in the classroom, that surely wouldn't foster a good work environment. He was fun to be around.

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

I knew he was a huge celebrity because that's what my parents told me, but I had not actually watched his movies. I knew the air around him — he was a big deal — but he wasn't scary to me. He was merely entertaining and I just wanted to play with him when he had time. He was occupied, of course, but he'd occasionally joke around here and there, and we would hang off of his arms. He'd tense up and we'd be holding on. He was really, really generous. He bought every kid in the classroom a Sony Walkman, which at the time was a major status symbol. It was the coolest device, that distinctive classic yellow cassette player. I played the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for years on that thing on that thing. It wore out in time. I also have a real silver whistle. He had the teacher's whistle, and the kids all got a whistle as well.

Do you remember your experience as being fun?

You know, it's funny, that movie became a phenomenon. It was such a big movie, and it was such an amazing experience, and you would think, as an adult, I would want my memories to be of the star himself, the direction of Ivan Reitman, traveling to Oregon, seeing the set, but my memories are of being a finitely child at lunch. Like, they got everyone pizza, but I wasn't a pizza fan. All I would eat was the pepperoni off the top. Then, the first-generation Game Boy was new. That was the coolest toy, and I was proficient. I was the youngest and some of the other children 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.

That Famous Quote

OK, the infamous quote, do you remember the context? Did you understand the words?

At the time, I likely didn't understand what the word provocative meant, but I realized it got a reaction and it caused the crew to chuckle. I knew it was kind of something I shouldn't normally say, but I was given approval in this case because it was funny.

“It was a difficult decision for her.”

How it came about, from what I understand, was they were still developing characters. A few scenes were established early on, but once they had the whole cast on the set, it wasn't pure improvisation, but they developed it during shooting and, presumably someone in charge came to my mom and said, "There's a concept. We want Miko to say this. Are you okay with this?" My mom paused. She said, "Give me a moment, I need time" and took a short while. She deliberated carefully. She said she had doubts, but she believed it would likely become one of the iconic quotes from the movie and her instinct was correct.