I Was the Iconic Line Kid from Kindergarten Cop: A Candid Conversation.

The action icon is universally recognized as an action movie legend. But, during the peak of his star power in the eighties and nineties, he also starred in several genuinely hilarious comedies. Chief among them is Kindergarten Cop, which celebrates its 35-year mark this holiday season.

The Film and The Famous Scene

In the 1990 movie, Schwarzenegger plays a undercover cop who masquerades as a elementary educator to catch a killer. For much of the story, the crime storyline acts as a basic structure for the star to film humorous scenes with children. The most unforgettable features a child named Joseph, who out of nowhere announces and states the actor, “Boys have a penis, females have a vagina.” Arnold replies icily, “Thanks for the tip.”

That iconic child was brought to life by youth performer Miko Hughes. Beyond this role included a character arc on Full House as the schoolyard menace to the Olsen twins and the haunting part of the child who returns in the film version of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. Hughes remains active today, with a slate of movies in development. He also engages with fans at the con circuit. Not long ago discussed his recollections from the production after all this time.

A Young Actor's Perspective

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

Miko Hughes: I think I was four. I was the most junior of all the kids on set.

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

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

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

My parents, primarily my mom would bring me to auditions. Frequently it was an open call. There'd be dozens of children and we'd all just have to wait, be seen, be in there for a very short time, read a small part they wanted and that was it. My parents would feed me the lines and then, when I became literate, that was some of the first material I was reading.

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

He was very kind. He was playful. He was good-natured, which arguably stands to reason. It would have been odd if he was unpleasant to all the kids in the classroom, that likely wouldn't create 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 was aware he was a major movie star because that's what my parents told me, but I had barely seen his movies. I knew the air around him — he was a big deal — but he didn't really intimidate me. He was just fun and I just wanted to play with him when he had time. He was working hard, but he'd kind of play with us 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 like an iPhone. It was the coolest device, that iconic bright yellow cassette player. I listened to the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for a long time on that thing. It eventually broke. I also was given a authentic coach's whistle. He had the teacher's whistle, and the kids all were gifted copies as well.

Do you remember your experience as being enjoyable?

You know, it's funny, that movie was this cultural thing. It was a huge film, and it was such an amazing experience, and you would think, as an adult, I would want my memories to be of collaborating with Schwarzenegger, the direction of Ivan Reitman, the location shoot, being on a professional 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 meat from the top. Then, the original Game Boy was new. That was the big craze, and I was pretty good at it. I was the youngest and some of the bigger kids would bring me their Game Boys to get past hard parts on games because I could do it, and I was quite pleased with myself. So, it's all childhood recollections.

The Line

OK, the infamous quote, do you remember the context? Did you grasp the meaning?

At the time, I wasn't fully aware of what the word shocking meant, but I knew it was provocative and it caused the crew to chuckle. I was aware it was kind of something I shouldn't normally say, but I was given an exception in this case because it was comedic.

“She really wrestled with it.”

How it was conceived, according to family lore, was they were still developing characters. Certain bits of dialogue were written into the script, but once they had the whole cast on the set, it wasn't necessarily improv, but they worked on it while filming and, I suppose it's either the director or producers came to my mom and said, "We're thinking. We want Miko to deliver this dialogue. Are you okay with this?" My mom didn't answer immediately. She said, "I need to consider this, I need time" and took a short while. She really wrestled with it. She said she was hesitant, but she thought it would likely become one of the iconic quotes from the movie and her instinct was correct.