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

The Austrian Oak is universally recognized as an action movie legend. Yet, in the midst of his blockbuster fame in the eighties and nineties, he also starred in several genuinely hilarious comedies. The standout film is Kindergarten Cop, which celebrates its three-and-a-half decade milestone this holiday season.

The Role and An Iconic Moment

In the classic film, Schwarzenegger embodies a tough police officer who goes undercover as a kindergarten teacher to locate a fugitive. For much of the movie, the procedural element serves as a basic structure for Arnold to have charming interactions with kids. Arguably the most famous involves a child named Joseph, who spontaneously rises and informs the former bodybuilder, “It's boys who have a penis, females have a vagina.” Arnold deadpans, “Thanks for the tip.”

The boy behind the line was brought to life by youth performer Miko Hughes. In addition to this part featured a recurring role on Full House as the schoolyard menace to the famous sisters and the haunting part of the youngster who comes back in the screen translation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He still works in film today, with multiple films listed on his IMDb. Furthermore, he is a regular on the con circuit. Not long ago recalled his memories from the set of Kindergarten Cop 35 years later.

A Young Actor's Perspective

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

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

That's remarkable, I can't remember being four. Do you retain any flashes from that time?

Yeah, somewhat. They're brief images. They're like picture memories.

Do you recall how you were cast in Kindergarten Cop?

My parents, primarily my mom would accompany me to auditions. Often it was a mass tryout. There'd be 20, 30 kids and we'd all just have to wait, go into the room, be in there briefly, read a small part they wanted and that's all. My parents would coach me on the dialogue and then, once I learned to 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 incredibly nice. He was playful. He was pleasant, which I guess isn't too surprising. It'd be weird if he was a dick to all the kids in the classroom, that probably wouldn't make for a productive set. He was fun to be around.

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

I understood he was a huge celebrity because my family informed me, but I had never really seen his movies. I felt the importance — he was a big deal — but he didn't really intimidate me. He was merely entertaining and I only wanted to hang out with him when he had time. He was working hard, but he'd sometimes engage here and there, and we would hang off of his arms. He'd tense up and we'd be dangling there. He was really, really generous. He bought every kid in the classroom a personal stereo, which at the time was like an iPhone. That was the coolest device, that iconic bright yellow cassette player. I listened to the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for ages on that thing. It wore out in time. I also have a real silver whistle. He had the referee's whistle, and the kids all got a whistle as well.

Do you remember your time filming as being fun?

You know, it's interesting, that movie became a phenomenon. It was a huge film, and it was a wonderful time, and you would think, as an adult, I would want my memories to be of collaborating with Schwarzenegger, working with [director] Ivan Reitman, traveling to Oregon, seeing the set, but my memories are of being a really picky eater 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 just released. That was the hot thing, and I was pretty good at it. I was the smallest kid and some of the other children would bring me their Game Boys to get past hard parts on games because I was able to, and I was quite pleased with myself. So, it's all youthful anecdotes.

That Famous Quote

OK, the penis and vagina line, do you remember how it happened? Did you know what you were saying?

At the time, I likely didn't understand what the word taboo meant, but I realized it got a reaction 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, from what I understand, was they hadn't finalized all the dialogue. Some character lines were part of the original screenplay, but once they had the whole cast on the set, it was more of a collaboration, but they developed it during shooting 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, "Let me think about it, 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 could end up as one of the unforgettable moments from the movie and history proved her correct.