I Am the Iconic Line Kid from the Classic 1990 Film: A Look Back.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is best known as an iconic tough guy. Yet, at the height of his cinematic dominance in the eighties and nineties, he also delivered several surprisingly great comedies. A prime example is Kindergarten Cop, which hits its three-and-a-half decade milestone this winter.

The Film and The Famous Scene

In the 1990 movie, Schwarzenegger embodies a undercover cop who goes undercover as a kindergarten teacher to catch a killer. Throughout the movie, the crime storyline serves as a basic structure for Arnold to film humorous moments with his young class. Arguably the most famous belongs to a student named Joseph, who out of nowhere stands up and declares the former bodybuilder, “Males have a penis, girls have a vagina.” Arnold responds dryly, “I appreciate the insight.”

The young actor was portrayed by youth performer Miko Hughes. His career featured a notable part on Full House playing the antagonist to the child stars and the pivotal role of the resurrected boy in the screen translation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He still works in film today, with a slate of movies listed on his IMDb. He also is a regular on popular culture events. Recently recalled his recollections from the production 35 years later.

Memories from the Set

Interviewer: First, how old were you when you filmed Kindergarten Cop?

Miko Hughes: I believe I was four. I was the smallest of all the kids on set.

That's impressive, I have no memory from being four. Do you remember anything from that time?

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

Do you recall how you were cast in Kindergarten Cop?

My family, especially my mother would take me to auditions. Often it was a mass tryout. There'd be 20, 30 kids and we'd all just have to wait, enter the casting office, be in there briefly, do whatever little line they wanted and then leave. My parents would feed me the lines and then, when I became literate, that was the initial content I was reading.

Do you have an impression of meeting Arnold? What was your take on him?

He was incredibly nice. He was playful. He was good-natured, which I guess isn't too surprising. It would be strange if he was a dick to all the kids in the classroom, that surely wouldn't foster a good work environment. 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 major movie star because I was told, but I had barely seen his movies. I sensed the excitement — it was exciting — but he didn't frighten me. He was merely entertaining and I just wanted to play with him when he wasn't busy. He was busy, obviously, but he'd kind of play with us here and there, and we would dangle from his limbs. He'd flex and we'd be dangling there. He was really, really generous. He purchased for each child in the classroom a yellow cassette player, which at the time was a major status symbol. It 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 ages on that thing. It eventually broke. I also received a real silver whistle. He had the teacher'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 interesting, that movie became a phenomenon. It was a huge film, 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, 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 wasn't a pizza fan. All I would eat was the toppings only. 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 older kids would hand me their devices to pass certain levels on games because I was able to, and I was really proud of that. So, it's all childhood recollections.

That Famous Quote

OK, that specific dialogue, do you remember the context? Did you understand the words?

At the time, I likely didn't understand what the word taboo meant, but I realized it got a reaction and it got a big laugh. I knew it was kind of something I wasn't supposed to do, but I was given special permission in this case because it was comedic.

“It was a difficult decision for her.”

How it was conceived, based on what I was told, was they were still developing characters. A few scenes 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, 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 paused. She said, "Give me a moment, let me sleep on it" and took some time. She really wrestled with it. She said she had doubts, but she believed it could end up as one of the most memorable lines from the movie and she was right.