I Am the Iconic Line Kid from Kindergarten Cop: An Interview.

The action icon is rightfully celebrated as an iconic tough guy. However, at the height of his star power in the eighties and nineties, he also delivered several surprisingly great comedies. The standout film is Kindergarten Cop, which celebrates its three-and-a-half decade milestone this holiday season.

The Story and That Line

In the 1990 movie, Schwarzenegger embodies a hardened detective who goes undercover as a schoolteacher to catch a killer. For much of the story, the procedural element serves as a basic structure for Arnold to film humorous scenes with children. The most unforgettable features a little boy named Joseph, who unprompted announces and declares the actor, “Males have a penis, females have a vagina.” The Terminator replies icily, “Thanks for the tip.”

The young actor was portrayed by youth performer Miko Hughes. Beyond this role encompassed a notable part on Full House as the schoolyard menace to the child stars and the character of the youngster who comes back in the 1989 adaptation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He continues to act today, with multiple films on the horizon. He also frequently attends the con circuit. He recently discussed his recollections from the production 35 years later.

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 can't remember being four. Do you remember anything from that time?

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

Do you recall how you were cast in Kindergarten Cop?

My family, especially my mother would take me to auditions. Often it was an open call. There'd be dozens of children and we'd all just have to wait, go into the room, be in there less than five minutes, 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 a specific memory of meeting Arnold? What was your feeling about him?

He was incredibly nice. He was enjoyable. He was good-natured, which I guess stands to reason. It'd be weird if he was a dick to all the kids in the classroom, that probably wouldn't make for a good work environment. He was fun to be around.

“It'd be weird if he was unpleasant to all the kids in the classroom.”

I was aware he was a major movie star because I was told, but I had not actually watched his movies. I knew the air around him — like, that's cool — but he didn't frighten me. He was merely entertaining and I just wanted to play with him when he wasn't busy. He was occupied, of course, but he'd sometimes engage here and there, and we would hang off of his arms. He'd flex and we'd be holding on. He was incredibly giving. He purchased for each child in the classroom a yellow cassette player, which at the time was a major status symbol. It was the coolest device, that funky old yellow cassette player. I played the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for ages on that thing. It wore out in time. I also was given a authentic coach's whistle. He had the referee's whistle, and the kids all got a whistle as well.

Do you remember your days on set as being enjoyable?

You know, it's amusing, that movie was this cultural thing. It was such a big movie, and it was an incredible opportunity, and you would think, as an adult, I would want my memories to be of working with Arnold, the legendary director, visiting Astoria, being on a professional set, but my memories are of being a finitely child at lunch. Like, they got everyone pizza, but I avoided pizza. All I would eat was the meat from the top. Then, the first-generation Game Boy was brand new. That was the hot thing, and I was proficient. 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 youthful anecdotes.

The Line

OK, the infamous quote, do you remember how it happened? Did you understand the words?

At the time, I wasn't fully aware of what the word shocking meant, but I understood it was edgy and it got a big laugh. I knew it was kind of something I shouldn't normally say, but I was given an exception in this case because it was humorous.

“It was a difficult decision for her.”

How it originated, from what I understand, was they didn't have specific roles. Certain bits of dialogue were part of the original screenplay, but once they had the whole cast on the set, it wasn't necessarily improv, but they refined it on set and, I suppose it's either the director or producers came to my mom and said, "We have an idea. We want Miko to have this line. Are you okay with this?" My mom paused. She said, "Let me think about it, I'll decide tomorrow" and took a day or two. She really wrestled with it. She said she had doubts, but she felt it will probably be one of the unforgettable moments from the movie and she was right.