I'm Known As the Iconic Line Kid from the Classic 1990 Film: An Interview.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is best known as an Hollywood heavyweight. However, at the height of his cinematic dominance in the late 20th century, he also headlined several critically acclaimed comedies. The standout film is Kindergarten Cop, which marks its three-and-a-half decade milestone this December.

The Role and That Line

In the 1990 movie, Schwarzenegger plays a undercover cop who masquerades as a schoolteacher to track down a criminal. Throughout the story, the investigation plot functions as a basic structure for Arnold to film humorous interactions with kids. Without a doubt the standout belongs to a student named Joseph, who out of nowhere announces and declares the former bodybuilder, “Boys have a penis, females have a vagina.” Arnold deadpans, “Thank you for that information.”

The boy behind the line was brought to life by former young actor Miko Hughes. His career included a character arc on Full House playing the antagonist to the famous sisters and the pivotal role of the resurrected boy in the 1989 adaptation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He continues to act today, with multiple films on the horizon. Additionally, he is a regular on fan conventions. He recently shared his memories from the set of Kindergarten Cop after all this time.

Memories from the Set

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

Miko Hughes: My understanding is I was four. I was the smallest of all the kids on set.

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

Yeah, somewhat. They're brief images. They're like picture memories.

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

My family, especially my mother would accompany me to auditions. Sometimes it was a mass tryout. There'd be dozens of children 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 feed me the lines and then, once I learned to read, that was the initial content I was reading.

Do you have any recollection of meeting Arnold? What was your feeling about him?

He was extremely gentle. He was playful. He was nice, which I suppose stands to reason. 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 knew he was a big action star because that's what my parents told me, but I had barely seen his movies. I knew the air around him — 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 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 show his strength and we'd be holding on. He was exceptionally kind. He bought every kid in the classroom a yellow cassette player, which at the time was a major status symbol. This was the coolest device, that distinctive classic yellow cassette player. I played the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for years on that thing on that thing. It wore out in time. I also have a real silver whistle. He had the coach whistle, and the kids all got a whistle as well.

Do you remember your time filming as being fun?

You know, it's funny, that movie became a phenomenon. It was such a big movie, and it was such an amazing experience, and you would think, looking back now, I would want my memories to be of the star himself, the legendary director, traveling to Oregon, seeing the set, but my memories are of being a finitely child at lunch. For instance, they got everyone pizza, but I didn't even like pizza. All I would eat was the meat from the top. Then, the first-generation Game Boy was just released. That was the hot thing, and I was proficient. I was the smallest kid and some of the other children would bring me their Game Boys to beat difficult stages on games because I knew how, and I was felt accomplished. So, it's all childhood recollections.

That Famous Quote

OK, that specific dialogue, do you remember anything about it? Did you understand the words?

At the time, I probably didn't know what the word taboo meant, but I knew it was provocative and it made adults laugh. I understood it was kind of something I wouldn't usually utter, but I was given approval in this case because it was comedic.

“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, reportedly someone in charge came to my mom and said, "There's a concept. We want Miko to say this. Are you okay with this?" My mom didn't answer immediately. She said, "Let me think about it, I'll decide tomorrow" and took some time. She deliberated carefully. She said she had doubts, but she felt it could end up as one of the most memorable lines from the movie and history proved her correct.