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

Arnold Schwarzenegger is best known as an action movie legend. But, during the peak of his cinematic dominance in the 1980s and 1990s, he also delivered several critically acclaimed comedies. A prime example is Kindergarten Cop, which celebrates its three-and-a-half decade milestone this holiday season.

The Film and That Line

In the hit comedy, Schwarzenegger plays a tough police officer who masquerades as a kindergarten teacher to catch a killer. For much of the movie, the procedural element acts as a loose framework for Arnold to have charming scenes with children. Arguably the most famous involves a little boy named Joseph, who spontaneously announces and informs the stoic star, “It's boys who have a penis, and girls get a vagina.” The Terminator deadpans, “Thank you for that information.”

That iconic child was portrayed by youth performer Miko Hughes. In addition to this part encompassed a notable part on Full House as the schoolyard menace to the famous sisters and the haunting part of the child who returns in the film version of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. Hughes remains active today, with a slate of movies in development. He also engages with fans at popular culture events. Recently discussed his recollections from the set of Kindergarten Cop after all this time.

Behind the Scenes

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

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

That's impressive, I have no memory from being four. Do you retain any flashes from that time?

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

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

My parents, primarily my mom would accompany me to auditions. Sometimes it was a mass tryout. There'd be 20, 30 kids and we'd all patiently queue, enter the casting office, be in there less than five minutes, do whatever little line they wanted and that's all. My parents would coach me on the dialogue and then, as soon as I could read, that was some of the first material I was reading.

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

He was extremely gentle. He was fun. He was pleasant, which arguably stands to reason. It would have been odd if he was unpleasant 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 unpleasant 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 sensed the excitement — it was exciting — but he wasn't scary to me. He was simply playful and I only wanted to hang out with him when he was available. He was busy, obviously, but he'd occasionally joke around here and there, and we would cling to his muscles. He'd show his strength and we'd be dangling there. He was exceptionally kind. He gifted all the students in the classroom a Sony Walkman, which at the time was the hottest tech. It was the hottest tech out there, that iconic bright 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 coach whistle, and the kids all were gifted copies as well.

Do you remember your days on set as being enjoyable?

You know, it's funny, that movie was this cultural thing. It was a major production, and it was an incredible opportunity, and you would think, in retrospect, I would want my memories to be of working with Arnold, working with [director] Ivan Reitman, traveling to Oregon, seeing the set, but my memories are of being a selective diner at lunch. Like, 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 quite skilled. I was the smallest kid and some of the bigger kids would ask for my help to get past hard parts on games because I could do it, and I was felt accomplished. So, it's all childhood recollections.

The Infamous Moment

OK, that specific dialogue, do you remember how it happened? Did you understand the words?

At the time, I wasn't fully aware of what the word shocking meant, but I understood it was edgy 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.

“She really wrestled with it.”

How it originated, based on what I was told, was they didn't have specific roles. Certain bits of dialogue were written into the script, but once they had the entire ensemble assembled, it wasn't necessarily improv, but they developed it during shooting and, reportedly the filmmakers came to my mom and said, "We have an idea. We want Miko to say this. Are you okay with this?" My mom didn't agree right away. She said, "Let me think about it, I need time" and took some time. 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 her instinct was correct.