I Was the Iconic Line Kid from the Arnold Schwarzenegger Comedy: A Candid Conversation.

The action icon is rightfully celebrated as an iconic tough guy. However, at the height of his cinematic dominance in the 1980s and 1990s, he also starred in several surprisingly great comedies. The standout film is Kindergarten Cop, which hits its 35-year mark this holiday season.

The Story and An Iconic Moment

In the classic film, Schwarzenegger portrays a hardened detective who goes undercover as a schoolteacher to track down a criminal. Throughout the film's runtime, the procedural element acts as a loose framework for Arnold to have charming scenes with children. Arguably the most famous features a student named Joseph, who out of nowhere announces and declares the stoic star, “It's boys who have a penis, females have a vagina.” Arnold responds dryly, “I appreciate the insight.”

The boy behind the line was portrayed by former young actor Miko Hughes. His career encompassed a character arc on Full House playing the antagonist to the Olsen twins and the pivotal role of the child who returns in the screen translation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He still works in film today, with multiple films listed on his IMDb. He also engages with fans at the con circuit. He recently discussed his recollections from the filming of the classic 35 years later.

Behind the Scenes

Question: Starting off, how old were you when you filmed Kindergarten Cop?

Miko Hughes: My understanding is 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 flashes. They're like visual recollections.

Do you recall how you landed the job in Kindergarten Cop?

My parents, primarily my mom would accompany me to auditions. Often it was like a cattle call. There'd be 20, 30 kids and we'd all just have to wait, be seen, be in there briefly, read a small part they wanted and that was it. My parents would help me learn the words 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 impression of him?

He was incredibly nice. He was enjoyable. He was pleasant, which I guess stands to reason. It would have been odd if he was mean to all the kids in the classroom, that probably wouldn't make for a positive atmosphere. He was great to work with.

“It would have been odd if he was a dick 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 never really seen his movies. I felt the importance — it was exciting — but he didn't really intimidate me. He was merely entertaining and I only wanted to hang out with him when he had time. He was working hard, but he'd kind of play with us here and there, and we would cling to his muscles. He'd tense up and we'd be holding on. He was really, really generous. He purchased for each child in the classroom a yellow cassette player, which at the time was like an iPhone. That was the must-have gadget, that iconic bright yellow cassette player. I played the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for a long time on that thing. It wore out in time. I also have a authentic coach's whistle. He had the referee's whistle, and the kids all were gifted copies as well.

Do you remember your days on set as being fun?

You know, it's funny, that movie became a phenomenon. It was a huge film, and it was such an amazing experience, and you would think, as an adult, I would want my memories to be of working with Arnold, the direction of Ivan Reitman, visiting Astoria, being on a professional set, but my memories are of being a selective diner at lunch. For example, they got everyone pizza, but I didn't even like pizza. All I would eat was the meat from the top. Then, the original Game Boy was new. That was the hot thing, and I was quite skilled. I was the smallest kid and some of the bigger kids would hand me their devices to pass certain levels on games because I was able to, 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 grasp the meaning?

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

“My mom thought hard about it.”

How it originated, based on what I was told, was they hadn't finalized all the dialogue. Some character lines were established early on, but once they had the whole cast on the set, it was more of a collaboration, but they refined it on set and, reportedly the filmmakers came to my mom and said, "We're thinking. We want Miko to have this line. Are you okay with this?" My mom didn't answer immediately. She said, "Give me a moment, I'll decide tomorrow" and took a day or two. She really wrestled with it. 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.