I'm Known As the Iconic Line Kid from the Classic 1990 Film: An Interview.

The Austrian Oak is universally recognized as an Hollywood heavyweight. But, in the midst of his cinematic dominance in the late 20th century, he also headlined several genuinely hilarious comedies. A prime example is Kindergarten Cop, which marks its 35-year mark this December.

The Film and The Famous Scene

In the classic film, Schwarzenegger portrays a tough police officer who goes undercover as a elementary educator to track down a criminal. For much of the film's runtime, the crime storyline serves as a simple backdrop for Arnold to have charming moments with his young class. Without a doubt the standout involves a student named Joseph, who unprompted announces and declares the stoic star, “Males have a penis, girls have a vagina.” Arnold responds dryly, “Thank you for that information.”

The boy behind the line was portrayed by child star Miko Hughes. His career included a recurring role on Full House playing the antagonist to the famous sisters and the haunting part of the child who returns in the screen translation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He still works in film today, with several projects in development. He also is a regular on popular culture events. Not long ago recalled his memories from the production 35 years later.

A Young Actor's Perspective

Interviewer: First, 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, to a degree. They're flashes. They're like mental photographs.

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

My mother, mainly would take me to auditions. Often it was an open call. There'd be dozens of children and we'd all patiently queue, be seen, be in there less than five minutes, do whatever little line they wanted and that was it. My parents would coach me on the dialogue and then, when I became literate, that was the initial content I was reading.

Do you have an impression of meeting Arnold? What was your feeling about him?

He was very kind. He was enjoyable. He was nice, which arguably makes sense. 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 a joy to have on set.

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

I was aware he was a big action star because that's what my parents told me, but I had not actually watched his movies. I sensed the excitement — he was a big deal — but he didn't really intimidate me. He was simply playful and I only wanted to hang out with him when he had time. He was busy, obviously, but he'd occasionally joke around here and there, and we would hang off of his arms. He'd flex and we'd be dangling there. He was incredibly giving. He gifted all the students in the classroom a Sony Walkman, which at the time was the hottest tech. This was the hottest tech out there, that iconic bright yellow cassette player. I used to rock out to the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for ages on that thing. It eventually broke. I also have a real silver whistle. He had the referee's whistle, and the kids all received one too as well.

Do you remember your experience as being enjoyable?

You know, it's interesting, that movie is such a landmark. It was a huge film, and it was a wonderful time, and you would think, looking back now, I would want my memories to be of working with Arnold, 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 didn't even like pizza. All I would eat was the pepperoni off the top. Then, the original Game Boy was brand new. That was the hot thing, and I was quite skilled. I was the smallest kid and some of the bigger kids would ask for my help to get past hard parts on games because I could do it, and I was really proud of that. So, it's all little kid memories.

The Line

OK, the infamous quote, do you remember anything about it? Did you know what you were saying?

At the time, I likely didn't understand what the word shocking meant, but I knew it was provocative and it caused the crew to chuckle. I understood it was kind of something I wouldn't usually utter, but I was given approval in this case because it was funny.

“She really wrestled with it.”

How it originated, according to family lore, was they were still developing characters. Some character lines were written into the script, but once they had the whole cast on the set, it wasn't necessarily improv, but they developed it during shooting and, presumably someone in charge came to my mom and said, "We have an idea. We want Miko to have this line. Are you okay with this?" My mom paused. She said, "Give me a moment, let me sleep on it" and took a day or two. It was a tough call for her. She said she had doubts, but she believed it could end up as one of the iconic quotes from the movie and she was right.