I'm Known As the Iconic Line Kid from Kindergarten Cop: An Interview.

The Austrian Oak is best known as an Hollywood heavyweight. However, in the midst of his star power in the late 20th century, he also starred in several surprisingly great comedies. A prime example is Kindergarten Cop, which celebrates its 35th anniversary this December.

The Story and The Famous Scene

In the hit comedy, Schwarzenegger plays a tough police officer who masquerades as a schoolteacher to locate a fugitive. Throughout the movie, the crime storyline serves as a loose framework for Schwarzenegger to share adorable moments with his young class. The most unforgettable belongs to a little boy named Joseph, who spontaneously stands up and declares the actor, “Boys have a penis, females have a vagina.” Schwarzenegger responds dryly, “Thank you for that information.”

The boy behind the line was brought to life by child star Miko Hughes. His career included a recurring role on Full House playing the antagonist to the famous sisters and the character of the youngster who comes back in the film version of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. Hughes remains active today, with several projects listed on his IMDb. He also engages with fans at fan conventions. He recently discussed his experiences from the production over three decades on.

A Young Actor's Perspective

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

Miko Hughes: I think I was four. I was the youngest of all the kids on set.

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

Yeah, to a degree. They're snapshots. They're like mental photographs.

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

My family, especially my mother would take me to auditions. Sometimes it was a mass tryout. There'd be 20, 30 kids and we'd all just have to wait, go into the room, be in there less than five minutes, read a small part they wanted and that's all. 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 take on him?

He was very kind. He was playful. He was good-natured, which I suppose makes sense. It would be strange if he was mean to all the kids in the classroom, that likely wouldn't create a positive atmosphere. He was fun to be around.

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

I understood he was a big action star because that's what my parents told me, but I had not actually watched his movies. I knew the air around him — like, that's cool — but he didn't frighten me. He was merely entertaining and I only wanted to hang out with him when he was available. He was busy, obviously, but he'd sometimes engage 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 bought every kid in the classroom a personal stereo, which at the time was the hottest tech. That was the hottest tech out there, that funky old 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 eventually broke. I also was given a genuine metal whistle. He had the coach whistle, and the kids all were gifted copies as well.

Do you remember your experience as being fun?

You know, it's funny, that movie was this cultural thing. 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 working with Arnold, working with [director] Ivan Reitman, traveling to Oregon, being on a professional set, but my memories are of being a selective diner at lunch. Like, they got everyone pizza, but I avoided pizza. All I would eat was the toppings only. Then, the first-generation Game Boy was new. That was the coolest toy, and I was quite skilled. I was the smallest kid and some of the other children would ask for my help to get past hard parts on games because I was able to, and I was really proud of that. So, it's all youthful anecdotes.

The Line

OK, that specific dialogue, 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 approval in this case because it was humorous.

“She really wrestled with it.”

How it was conceived, from what I understand, was they were still developing characters. Certain bits of dialogue were part of the original screenplay, but once they had the kids together, it was more of a collaboration, but they developed it during shooting and, I suppose someone in charge came to my mom and said, "There's a concept. We want Miko to deliver this dialogue. Are you okay with this?" My mom didn't answer immediately. She said, "Give me a moment, I need time" and took a short while. She deliberated carefully. She said she was hesitant, but she believed it will probably be one of the iconic quotes from the movie and history proved her correct.