I Am the Iconic Line Kid from the Arnold Schwarzenegger Comedy: An Interview.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is universally recognized as an iconic tough guy. Yet, during the peak of his star power in the late 20th century, he also starred in several genuinely hilarious comedies. Chief among them is Kindergarten Cop, which marks its 35th anniversary this December.

The Role and The Famous Scene

In the hit comedy, Schwarzenegger portrays a hardened detective who poses as a elementary educator to track down a criminal. For much of the story, the crime storyline acts as a basic structure for Arnold to film humorous scenes with children. The most unforgettable involves a student named Joseph, who spontaneously stands up and declares the stoic star, “Males have a penis, females have a vagina.” Schwarzenegger replies icily, “Thank you for that information.”

The boy behind the line was played by child star Miko Hughes. In addition to this part encompassed a notable part on Full House playing the antagonist to the famous sisters 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 listed on his IMDb. Additionally, he is a regular on the con circuit. He recently discussed his recollections from the production after all this time.

Memories from the Set

Interviewer: First, 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.

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

Yeah, to a degree. They're flashes. They're like picture memories.

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

My mother, mainly would bring me to auditions. Sometimes 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 then leave. My parents would coach me on the dialogue and then, as soon as I could read, that was probably the first stuff I was reading.

Do you have an impression of meeting Arnold? What was your feeling about him?

He was incredibly nice. He was enjoyable. He was nice, which I suppose makes sense. It'd be weird if he was mean to all the kids in the classroom, that surely wouldn't foster a productive set. He was a joy to have on set.

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

I understood he was a major movie star because that's what my parents told me, but I had not actually watched his movies. I knew the air around him — he was a big deal — but he wasn't scary to me. He was merely entertaining and I was eager to interact with him when he was available. He was working hard, but he'd sometimes engage here and there, and we would cling to his muscles. He'd flex and we'd be dangling there. He was really, really generous. He purchased for each child in the classroom a personal stereo, which at the time was the hottest tech. It was the must-have gadget, that funky old yellow cassette player. I listened to the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for ages on that thing. It eventually broke. I also have a real silver whistle. He had the coach whistle, and the kids all received one too as well.

Do you remember your time filming as being positive?

You know, it's interesting, that movie is such a landmark. 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, working with [director] Ivan Reitman, the location shoot, being on a professional set, 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 toppings only. Then, the first-generation Game Boy was brand new. That was the hot thing, and I was quite skilled. I was the smallest kid and some of the bigger kids would bring me their Game Boys to pass certain levels on games because I could do it, and I was really proud of that. So, it's all youthful anecdotes.

The Line

OK, that specific dialogue, do you remember anything about it? Did you grasp the meaning?

At the time, I probably didn't know what the word shocking meant, but I realized it got a reaction and it caused the crew to chuckle. I understood it was kind of something I shouldn't normally say, but I was given an exception in this case because it was humorous.

“It was a difficult decision for her.”

How it was conceived, according to family lore, was they hadn't finalized all the dialogue. Certain bits of dialogue were written into the script, but once they had the entire ensemble assembled, it wasn't pure improvisation, but they refined it on set and, reportedly 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, "I need to consider this, I'll decide tomorrow" and took a day or two. She really wrestled with it. She said she wasn't sure, but she thought it would likely become one of the iconic quotes from the movie and she was right.