I Am the Iconic Line Kid from the Classic 1990 Film: An Interview.

The Austrian Oak is rightfully celebrated as an Hollywood heavyweight. Yet, during the peak of his blockbuster fame in the eighties and nineties, he also starred in several surprisingly great comedies. Chief among them is Kindergarten Cop, which hits its 35th anniversary this December.

The Role and That Line

In the hit comedy, Schwarzenegger plays a hardened detective who goes undercover as a kindergarten teacher to catch a killer. During the story, the procedural element serves as a basic structure for the star to share adorable interactions with kids. Arguably the most famous involves a student named Joseph, who unprompted rises and declares the former bodybuilder, “Males have a penis, girls have a vagina.” Arnold deadpans, “I appreciate the insight.”

The boy behind the line was brought to life by youth performer Miko Hughes. Beyond this role encompassed a recurring role on Full House playing the antagonist to the famous sisters and the haunting part of the resurrected boy in the screen translation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He still works in film today, with several projects on the horizon. Additionally, he is a regular on the con circuit. He recently recalled his recollections 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: I believe I was four. I was the smallest of all the kids on set.

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

Yeah, somewhat. They're brief images. They're like mental photographs.

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

My family, especially my mother would bring me to auditions. Sometimes it was like a cattle call. There'd be dozens of children and we'd all simply wait around, go into the room, be in there for a very short time, do whatever little line they wanted and that was it. My parents would coach me on the dialogue and then, once I learned to read, 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 extremely gentle. He was fun. He was pleasant, which I suppose makes sense. It would have been odd if he was a dick to all the kids in the classroom, that surely wouldn't foster a positive atmosphere. He was a joy to have on set.

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

I knew he was a major movie star because my family informed me, but I had barely seen his movies. I knew the air around him — like, that's cool — but he wasn't scary to me. He was merely entertaining and I was eager to interact with him when he wasn't busy. He was busy, obviously, but he'd kind of play with us here and there, and we would cling to his muscles. He'd flex and we'd be hanging off. He was exceptionally kind. He gifted all the students in the classroom a yellow cassette player, which at the time was the hottest tech. It was the hottest tech out there, that funky old yellow cassette player. I used to rock out to the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for years on that thing on that thing. It finally gave out. I also received a genuine metal whistle. He had the teacher's whistle, and the kids all got a whistle as well.

Do you remember your time filming as being positive?

You know, it's amusing, that movie was this cultural thing. It was a major production, 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, visiting Astoria, the production design, but my memories are of being a selective diner at lunch. For instance, they got everyone pizza, but I avoided pizza. All I would eat was the meat from the top. Then, the original Game Boy was brand new. That was the big craze, and I was quite skilled. I was the smallest kid and some of the other children would ask for my help to pass certain levels on games because I was able to, and I was really proud of that. So, it's all little kid memories.

The Line

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

At the time, I wasn't fully aware of what the word provocative meant, but I realized it got a reaction and it made adults laugh. I knew it was kind of something I wouldn't usually utter, but I was given an exception in this case because it was humorous.

“It was a difficult decision for her.”

How it was conceived, according to family lore, was they were still developing characters. A few scenes were part of the original screenplay, but once they had the kids together, it wasn't necessarily improv, but they developed it during shooting and, reportedly someone in charge came to my mom and said, "We're thinking. We want Miko to say this. Are you okay with this?" My mom paused. She said, "I need to consider this, I need time" and took a short while. She really wrestled with it. She said she wasn't sure, but she believed it could end up as one of the most memorable lines from the movie and she was right.