I Was the Iconic Line Kid from the Arnold Schwarzenegger Comedy: A Look Back.

The Austrian Oak is best known as an iconic tough guy. Yet, at the height of his star power in the eighties and nineties, he also delivered several surprisingly great comedies. A prime example is Kindergarten Cop, which celebrates its 35th anniversary this winter.

The Role and The Famous Scene

In the hit comedy, Schwarzenegger portrays a undercover cop who masquerades as a elementary educator to locate a fugitive. For much of the movie, the procedural element serves as a loose framework for Schwarzenegger to share adorable interactions with kids. The most unforgettable features a student named Joseph, who spontaneously announces and informs the actor, “Boys have a penis, girls have a vagina.” The Terminator replies icily, “Thanks for the tip.”

That iconic child was played by child star Miko Hughes. Beyond this role encompassed a notable part on Full House as the schoolyard menace to the child stars and the character of the child who returns in the screen translation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. Hughes remains active today, with several projects listed on his IMDb. He also engages with fans at the con circuit. Not long ago recalled his memories from the set of Kindergarten Cop over three decades on.

A Young Actor's Perspective

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

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

That's impressive, I don't recall being four. Do you have any memories from that time?

Yeah, a little bit. They're snapshots. They're like visual recollections.

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

My mother, mainly would bring me to auditions. Often it was like a cattle call. There'd be 20, 30 kids and we'd all simply wait around, enter the casting office, be in there briefly, deliver a quick line they wanted and that's all. 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 feeling about him?

He was extremely gentle. He was enjoyable. He was good-natured, which I suppose isn't too surprising. It would be strange if he was mean to all the kids in the classroom, that surely wouldn't foster a good work environment. He was a joy to have on set.

“It'd be weird if he was mean to all the kids in the classroom.”

I understood he was a huge celebrity because I was told, but I had barely seen his movies. I felt the importance — he was a big deal — but he didn't really intimidate me. He was simply playful and I only wanted to hang out with him when he was available. He was working hard, but he'd occasionally joke around here and there, and we would dangle from his limbs. He'd show his strength and we'd be dangling there. He was really, really generous. He bought every kid in the classroom a yellow cassette player, which at the time was a major status symbol. That was the coolest device, that funky old yellow cassette player. I listened to the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for years on that thing on that thing. It finally gave out. I also received a authentic coach's whistle. He had the referee's whistle, and the kids all received one too as well.

Do you remember your experience as being enjoyable?

You know, it's amusing, that movie became a phenomenon. It was such a big movie, and it was an incredible opportunity, and you would think, looking back now, I would want my memories to be of working with Arnold, the legendary director, the location shoot, seeing the set, but my memories are of being a finitely child at lunch. For instance, they got everyone pizza, but I wasn't a pizza fan. All I would eat was the meat from the top. Then, the first-generation Game Boy was new. That was the big craze, and I was quite skilled. I was the youngest and some of the other children would hand me their devices to pass certain levels on games because I knew how, and I was really proud of that. So, it's all youthful anecdotes.

The Infamous Moment

OK, the infamous quote, do you remember how it happened? Did you know what you were saying?

At the time, I likely didn't understand what the word taboo meant, but I realized it got a reaction and it caused the crew to chuckle. I knew it was kind of something I wouldn't usually utter, but I was given an exception in this case because it was comedic.

“My mom thought hard about it.”

How it came about, based on what I was told, was they didn't have specific roles. Certain bits of dialogue were part of the original screenplay, but once they had the entire ensemble assembled, it wasn't necessarily improv, but they developed it during shooting and, presumably the filmmakers came to my mom and said, "There's a concept. We want Miko to have this line. Are you okay with this?" My mom paused. She said, "I need to consider this, I'll decide tomorrow" and took a short while. She deliberated carefully. She said she was hesitant, but she felt it would likely become one of the iconic quotes from the movie and her instinct was correct.