I Am the Iconic Line Kid from the Classic 1990 Film: A Candid Conversation.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is rightfully celebrated as an iconic tough guy. However, during the peak of his blockbuster fame in the late 20th century, he also headlined several critically acclaimed comedies. The standout film is Kindergarten Cop, which celebrates its three-and-a-half decade milestone this holiday season.

The Story and That Line

In the 1990 movie, Schwarzenegger embodies a undercover cop who poses as a elementary educator to locate a fugitive. For much of the movie, the procedural element serves as a basic structure for Arnold to film humorous scenes with children. Without a doubt the standout features a student named Joseph, who unprompted announces and declares the stoic star, “It's boys who have a penis, females have a vagina.” Schwarzenegger responds dryly, “I appreciate the insight.”

That iconic child was brought to life by former young actor Miko Hughes. In addition to this part featured a recurring role on Full House playing the antagonist to the child stars and the haunting part of the youngster who comes back in the 1989 adaptation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He still works in film today, with several projects in development. He also is a regular on the con circuit. He recently discussed his recollections from the set of Kindergarten Cop over three decades on.

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 smallest of all the kids on set.

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

Yeah, a little bit. They're snapshots. They're like visual recollections.

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

My parents, primarily my mom would accompany me to auditions. Frequently it was like a cattle call. There'd be dozens of children and we'd all just have to wait, enter the casting office, be in there briefly, deliver a quick line they wanted and that's all. My parents would help me learn the words 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 take on him?

He was very kind. He was fun. He was pleasant, which arguably makes sense. It would be strange if he was unpleasant to all the kids in the classroom, that surely wouldn't foster 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 knew he was a major movie star because that's what my parents told me, but I had barely seen his movies. I felt the importance — he was a big deal — but he didn't really intimidate me. He was just fun and I was eager to interact with him when he wasn't busy. 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 show his strength and we'd be dangling there. He was exceptionally kind. He purchased for each child in the classroom a Sony Walkman, which at the time was a major status symbol. This was the coolest device, that iconic bright yellow cassette player. I played the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for ages on that thing. It finally gave out. I also was given a real silver whistle. He had the teacher's whistle, and the kids all got a whistle as well.

Do you remember your days on set as being fun?

You know, it's funny, that movie was this cultural thing. It was a huge film, and it was a wonderful time, and you would think, in retrospect, I would want my memories to be of working with Arnold, the legendary director, visiting Astoria, being on a professional set, but my memories are of being a really picky eater at lunch. For example, 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 brand new. That was the coolest toy, and I was quite skilled. I was the youngest and some of the other children would bring me their Game Boys to get past hard parts on games because I could do it, and I was felt accomplished. So, it's all little kid memories.

The Line

OK, that specific dialogue, do you remember the context? Did you understand the words?

At the time, I likely didn't understand what the word shocking meant, but I understood it was edgy and it got a big laugh. I knew it was kind of something I shouldn't normally say, but I was given approval in this case because it was funny.

“My mom thought hard about it.”

How it was conceived, from what I understand, was they were still developing characters. Some character lines were part of the original screenplay, but once they had the entire ensemble assembled, it wasn't pure improvisation, but they developed it during shooting and, reportedly someone in charge came to my mom and said, "We have an idea. We want Miko to say this. Are you okay with this?" My mom paused. She said, "Give me a moment, let me sleep on it" and took a short while. She deliberated carefully. She said she had doubts, but she thought it could end up as one of the iconic quotes from the movie and history proved her correct.