I Was the Iconic Line Kid from the Arnold Schwarzenegger Comedy: An Interview.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is universally recognized as an Hollywood heavyweight. Yet, at the height of his blockbuster fame 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 December.

The Story and That Line

In the hit comedy, Schwarzenegger plays a hardened detective who poses as a schoolteacher to catch a killer. For much of the movie, the crime storyline serves as a basic structure for Arnold to share adorable interactions with kids. Arguably the most famous belongs to a little boy named Joseph, who spontaneously stands up and declares the actor, “It's boys who have a penis, females have a vagina.” Arnold responds dryly, “Thanks for the tip.”

The young actor was portrayed by child star Miko Hughes. Beyond this role featured a notable part on Full House as the bully to the famous sisters and the pivotal role of the youngster who comes back in the 1989 adaptation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He still works in film today, with multiple films listed on his IMDb. Additionally, he frequently attends the con circuit. Recently discussed his experiences from the production over three decades on.

Memories from the Set

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

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

That's impressive, I can't remember being four. Do you remember anything from that time?

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

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

My mother, mainly would accompany me to auditions. Frequently it was like a cattle call. There'd be a room full of young actors and we'd all simply wait around, enter the casting office, be in there briefly, read a small part they wanted and that's all. My parents would help me learn the words and then, once I learned to 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 incredibly nice. He was enjoyable. He was nice, which I guess stands to reason. It would be strange if he was mean to all the kids in the classroom, that surely wouldn't foster a positive atmosphere. He was great to work with.

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

I knew he was a huge celebrity because my family informed me, but I had never really seen his movies. I sensed the excitement — it was exciting — but he wasn't scary to me. He was just fun and I was eager to interact with him when he wasn't busy. He was busy, obviously, but he'd occasionally joke around here and there, and we would dangle from his limbs. He'd flex and we'd be dangling there. He was exceptionally kind. He gifted all the students in the classroom a Sony Walkman, which at the time was a major status symbol. That was the must-have gadget, that distinctive classic yellow cassette player. I listened 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 have a real silver whistle. He had the coach whistle, and the kids all got a whistle as well.

Do you remember your time filming as being positive?

You know, it's funny, that movie became a phenomenon. It was such a big movie, and it was an incredible opportunity, and you would think, in retrospect, I would want my memories to be of working with Arnold, the direction of Ivan Reitman, traveling to Oregon, the production design, but my memories are of being a really picky eater at lunch. Like, they got everyone pizza, but I didn't even like pizza. All I would eat was the pepperoni off the top. Then, the original Game Boy was just released. That was the hot thing, and I was pretty good at it. I was the youngest and some of the bigger kids would hand me their devices to pass certain levels on games because I was able to, and I was felt accomplished. So, it's all childhood recollections.

The Infamous Moment

OK, the penis and vagina line, do you remember anything about it? Did you understand the words?

At the time, I likely didn't understand what the word provocative meant, but I knew it was provocative and it caused the crew to chuckle. I knew it was kind of something I wasn't supposed to do, but I was given special permission in this case because it was humorous.

“She really wrestled with it.”

How it came about, based on what I was told, was they didn't have specific roles. A few scenes were written into the script, but once they had the whole cast on the set, it was more of a collaboration, but they worked on it while filming and, I suppose the filmmakers came to my mom and said, "There's a concept. We want Miko to have this line. Are you okay with this?" My mom didn't answer immediately. She said, "Give me a moment, I'll decide tomorrow" and took a day or two. She deliberated carefully. She said she had doubts, but she thought it will probably be one of the iconic quotes from the movie and she was right.