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

The action icon is best known as an action movie legend. However, at the height of his star power in the eighties and nineties, he also headlined several critically acclaimed comedies. A prime example is Kindergarten Cop, which marks its 35th anniversary this December.

The Role and The Famous Scene

In the hit comedy, Schwarzenegger portrays a tough police officer who poses as a schoolteacher to catch a killer. Throughout the movie, the procedural element acts as a loose framework for Arnold to have charming interactions with kids. The most unforgettable belongs to a student named Joseph, who unprompted stands up and informs the stoic star, “It's boys who have a penis, girls have a vagina.” The Terminator responds dryly, “I appreciate the insight.”

The boy behind the line was brought to life by child star Miko Hughes. In addition to this part included a recurring role on Full House as the bully to the child stars and the haunting part of the resurrected boy in the 1989 adaptation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He still works in film today, with multiple films in development. Furthermore, he is a regular on the con circuit. Not long ago shared his recollections from the filming of the classic 35 years later.

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 most junior of all the kids on set.

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

Yeah, somewhat. They're flashes. They're like visual recollections.

Do you recall how you were cast in Kindergarten Cop?

My family, especially my mother would bring me to auditions. Sometimes it was like a cattle call. There'd be 20, 30 kids and we'd all simply wait around, enter the casting office, be in there briefly, read a small part 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 take on him?

He was incredibly nice. He was playful. He was nice, which arguably makes sense. It would be strange if he was mean to all the kids in the classroom, that probably wouldn't make for a good work environment. He was fun to be around.

“It would have been odd if he was unpleasant to all the kids in the classroom.”

I was aware he was a major movie star because I was told, but I had barely seen his movies. I felt the importance — like, that's cool — but he wasn't scary to me. He was simply playful and I just wanted to play with him when he was available. He was busy, obviously, 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 incredibly giving. He purchased for each child in the classroom a yellow cassette player, which at the time was the hottest tech. That was the hottest tech out there, that funky old yellow cassette player. I listened to the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for a long time on that thing. It eventually broke. I also received a genuine metal whistle. He had the coach 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 became a phenomenon. It was such a big movie, and it was a wonderful time, and you would think, looking back now, I would want my memories to be of the star himself, the legendary director, visiting Astoria, the production design, but my memories are of being a really picky eater at lunch. Like, they got everyone pizza, but I avoided pizza. All I would eat was the pepperoni off the top. Then, the Nintendo Game Boy was 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 beat difficult stages on games because I could do it, and I was really proud of that. So, it's all childhood recollections.

That Famous Quote

OK, that specific dialogue, do you remember the context? Did you know what you were saying?

At the time, I likely didn't understand what the word provocative meant, but I understood it was edgy and it made adults laugh. I was aware it was kind of something I wasn't supposed to do, but I was given an exception in this case because it was comedic.

“It was a difficult decision for her.”

How it originated, from what I understand, was they hadn't finalized all the dialogue. A few scenes were written into the script, but once they had the entire ensemble assembled, 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 say this. Are you okay with this?" My mom didn't agree right away. She said, "I need to consider this, let me sleep on it" and took some time. She deliberated carefully. She said she was hesitant, but she thought it would likely become one of the iconic quotes from the movie and she was right.