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

Arnold Schwarzenegger is best known as an action movie legend. However, at the height of his blockbuster fame in the eighties and nineties, he also delivered several genuinely hilarious comedies. Chief among them is Kindergarten Cop, which celebrates its 35th anniversary this winter.

The Film and The Famous Scene

In the 1990 movie, Schwarzenegger portrays a tough police officer who poses as a schoolteacher to track down a criminal. During the movie, the crime storyline serves as a basic structure for Arnold to have charming moments with his young class. Without a doubt the standout belongs to a student named Joseph, who spontaneously rises and declares the former bodybuilder, “It's boys who have a penis, and girls get a vagina.” The Terminator deadpans, “I appreciate the insight.”

That iconic child was played by former young actor Miko Hughes. His career featured a notable part on Full House playing the antagonist to the famous sisters and the haunting part of the youngster who comes back in the film version of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He continues to act today, with multiple films listed on his IMDb. Additionally, he is a regular on fan conventions. Recently discussed his memories from the production 35 years later.

Behind the Scenes

Q: To begin, how old were you when you filmed Kindergarten Cop?

Miko Hughes: My understanding is 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 brief images. They're like mental photographs.

Do you recall how you were cast in Kindergarten Cop?

My mother, mainly would take me to auditions. Sometimes 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 less than five minutes, deliver a quick line they wanted and that was it. My parents would feed me the lines and then, when I became literate, that was probably the first stuff I was reading.

Do you have a specific memory of meeting Arnold? What was your impression of him?

He was incredibly nice. He was enjoyable. He was good-natured, which I guess stands to reason. It'd be weird 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 be strange if he was mean 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 — like, that's cool — but he didn't really intimidate me. He was merely entertaining and I was eager to interact with him when he had time. He was busy, obviously, but he'd kind of play with us here and there, and we would hang off of his arms. He'd tense up 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 the hottest tech. This was the must-have gadget, that distinctive classic 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 finally gave out. I also received a authentic coach's whistle. He had the teacher's whistle, and the kids all were gifted copies as well.

Do you remember your time filming as being fun?

You know, it's funny, that movie became a phenomenon. It was a huge film, and it was a wonderful time, and you would think, as an adult, I would want my memories to be of collaborating with Schwarzenegger, the legendary director, traveling to Oregon, the production design, 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 Nintendo Game Boy was brand new. That was the coolest toy, and I was pretty good at it. I was the youngest and some of the bigger kids would hand me their devices to beat difficult stages on games because I was able to, and I was felt accomplished. So, it's all childhood recollections.

The Infamous Moment

OK, the infamous quote, do you remember how it happened? Did you grasp the meaning?

At the time, I probably didn't know what the word provocative meant, but I understood it was edgy and it caused the crew to chuckle. I understood it was kind of something I wouldn't usually utter, but I was given an exception in this case because it was humorous.

“My mom thought hard about it.”

How it was conceived, based on what I was told, was they hadn't finalized all the dialogue. A few scenes were part of the original screenplay, but once they had the whole cast on the set, it was more of a collaboration, but they refined it on set and, presumably the filmmakers came to my mom and said, "We're thinking. We want Miko to deliver this dialogue. Are you okay with this?" My mom didn't answer immediately. She said, "Give me a moment, let me sleep on it" and took a day or two. She deliberated carefully. She said she was hesitant, but she believed it could end up as one of the most memorable lines from the movie and she was right.