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

The action icon is best known as an Hollywood heavyweight. However, at the height of his blockbuster fame in the 1980s and 1990s, he also delivered several surprisingly great comedies. A prime example is Kindergarten Cop, which celebrates its 35-year mark this holiday season.

The Story and An Iconic Moment

In the classic film, Schwarzenegger portrays a undercover cop who poses as a schoolteacher to track down a criminal. During the story, the crime storyline acts as a simple backdrop for Arnold to film humorous scenes with children. Arguably the most famous belongs to a little boy named Joseph, who unprompted stands up and informs the former bodybuilder, “Males have a penis, females have a vagina.” Schwarzenegger deadpans, “I appreciate the insight.”

The young actor was brought to life by former young actor Miko Hughes. Beyond this role encompassed a notable part on Full House as the schoolyard menace to the famous sisters and the character 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. Furthermore, he is a regular on the con circuit. Not long ago shared his recollections from the filming of the classic after all this time.

A Young Actor's Perspective

Interviewer: First, how old were you when you filmed Kindergarten Cop?

Miko Hughes: I believe I was four. I was the youngest of all the kids on set.

That's impressive, I have no memory from being four. Do you retain any flashes from that time?

Yeah, to a degree. They're brief images. They're like visual recollections.

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

My parents, primarily my mom would take me to auditions. Often it was an open call. There'd be 20, 30 kids and we'd all just have to wait, 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 an impression of meeting Arnold? What was your feeling about him?

He was extremely gentle. He was enjoyable. He was nice, which I suppose makes sense. It would have been odd if he was unpleasant to all the kids in the classroom, that surely wouldn't foster a good work environment. He was a joy to have on set.

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

I knew he was a huge celebrity because I was told, but I had barely seen his movies. I sensed the excitement — like, that's cool — but he didn't really intimidate me. He was merely entertaining and I only wanted to hang out with him when he wasn't busy. He was occupied, of course, but he'd occasionally joke around here and there, and we would dangle from his limbs. He'd show his strength and we'd be hanging off. He was exceptionally kind. He bought every kid in the classroom a Sony Walkman, which at the time was like an iPhone. This 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 a long time on that thing. It eventually broke. I also received a real silver whistle. He had the teacher's whistle, and the kids all received one too as well.

Do you remember your experience as being positive?

You know, it's amusing, that movie was this cultural thing. It was a major production, and it was an incredible opportunity, and you would think, looking back now, I would want my memories to be of the star himself, working with [director] Ivan Reitman, traveling to Oregon, the production design, but my memories are of being a finitely child 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 hot thing, and I was quite skilled. I was the youngest and some of the older kids would ask for my help to beat difficult stages on games because I knew how, and I was quite pleased with myself. So, it's all little kid memories.

The Infamous Moment

OK, the infamous quote, do you remember the context? Did you know what you were saying?

At the time, I wasn't fully aware of what the word taboo meant, but I understood it was edgy and it got a big laugh. I understood it was kind of something I wasn't supposed to do, but I was given approval in this case because it was funny.

“My mom thought hard about it.”

How it came about, from what I understand, was they were still developing characters. Certain bits of dialogue were established early on, but once they had the whole cast on the set, it wasn't pure improvisation, but they refined it on set and, presumably it's either the director or producers came to my mom and said, "There's a concept. We want Miko to say this. Are you okay with this?" My mom didn't agree right away. She said, "Let me think about it, I'll decide tomorrow" and took some time. She really wrestled with it. She said she was hesitant, but she believed it would likely become one of the iconic quotes from the movie and history proved her correct.