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

The Austrian Oak is rightfully celebrated as an action movie legend. Yet, during the peak of his cinematic dominance in the 1980s and 1990s, he also starred in several genuinely hilarious comedies. The standout film is Kindergarten Cop, which celebrates its 35-year mark this holiday season.

The Role and The Famous Scene

In the classic film, Schwarzenegger embodies a hardened detective who masquerades as a schoolteacher to track down a criminal. Throughout the movie, the procedural element functions as a loose framework for the star to have charming scenes with children. Without a doubt the standout involves a little boy named Joseph, who unprompted stands up and states the former bodybuilder, “Boys have a penis, females have a vagina.” The Terminator responds dryly, “Thanks for the tip.”

That iconic child was portrayed by former young actor Miko Hughes. His career encompassed a recurring role on Full House as the bully to the famous sisters and the character of the resurrected boy in the 1989 adaptation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He continues to act today, with several projects listed on his IMDb. Furthermore, he frequently attends fan conventions. Not long ago recalled his memories from the set of Kindergarten Cop after all this time.

Memories from the Set

Q: To begin, 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 have no memory from being four. Do you retain any flashes from that time?

Yeah, a little bit. They're flashes. They're like mental photographs.

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

My parents, primarily my mom would bring me to auditions. Often it was an open call. There'd be 20, 30 kids and we'd all just have to wait, go into the room, be in there less than five minutes, do whatever little line they wanted and then leave. My parents would help me learn the words and then, as soon as I could read, that was the initial content 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 nice, which arguably stands to reason. It would have been odd if he was mean to all the kids in the classroom, that surely wouldn't foster a good work environment. He was fun to be around.

“It'd be weird if he was mean 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 sensed the excitement — he was a big deal — but he wasn't scary to me. He was just fun and I was eager to interact 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 hang off of his arms. He'd flex and we'd be dangling there. He was incredibly giving. He purchased for each child in the classroom a yellow cassette player, which at the time was like an iPhone. It was the hottest tech out there, that distinctive classic yellow cassette player. I listened to the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for a long time on that thing. It eventually broke. I also have a genuine metal whistle. He had the coach whistle, and the kids all got a whistle as well.

Do you remember your experience as being enjoyable?

You know, it's interesting, that movie is such a landmark. It was a major production, and it was a wonderful time, and you would think, in retrospect, I would want my memories to be of the star himself, the legendary director, the location shoot, the production design, but my memories are of being a selective diner 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 Nintendo Game Boy was just released. That was the hot thing, and I was pretty good at it. I was the smallest kid and some of the older kids would ask for my help to beat difficult stages on games because I knew how, and I was quite pleased with myself. So, it's all youthful anecdotes.

The Infamous Moment

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

At the time, I wasn't fully aware of what the word taboo meant, but I realized it got a reaction and it caused the crew to chuckle. I was aware it was kind of something I shouldn't normally say, but I was given special permission in this case because it was humorous.

“My mom thought hard about it.”

How it was conceived, according to family lore, was they hadn't finalized all the dialogue. A few scenes were written into the script, but once they had the kids together, it was more of a collaboration, but they refined it on set and, I suppose it's either the director or producers 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 need time" and took a short while. She deliberated carefully. She said she wasn't sure, but she believed it would likely become one of the unforgettable moments from the movie and her instinct was correct.