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

The Austrian Oak is rightfully celebrated as an action movie legend. However, during the peak of his cinematic dominance in the late 20th century, he also headlined several critically acclaimed comedies. A prime example is Kindergarten Cop, which hits its 35th anniversary this winter.

The Role and An Iconic Moment

In the hit comedy, Schwarzenegger portrays a hardened detective who goes undercover as a elementary educator to catch a killer. During the film's runtime, the procedural element serves as a simple backdrop for Schwarzenegger to film humorous scenes with children. Without a doubt the standout belongs to a child named Joseph, who spontaneously stands up and informs the stoic star, “Males have a penis, females have a vagina.” The Terminator responds dryly, “I appreciate the insight.”

That iconic child was portrayed by youth performer Miko Hughes. Beyond this role included a notable part on Full House playing the antagonist to the famous sisters and the character of the youngster who comes back in the 1989 adaptation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He still works in film today, with a slate of movies in development. Additionally, he frequently attends popular culture events. He recently shared his memories from the set of Kindergarten Cop after all this time.

A Young Actor's Perspective

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 remember anything from that time?

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

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

My parents, primarily my mom would accompany me to auditions. Sometimes it was an open call. There'd be dozens of children and we'd all simply wait around, enter the casting office, be in there for a very short time, do whatever little line they wanted and that's all. My parents would help me learn the words 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 impression of him?

He was very kind. He was enjoyable. He was nice, which I guess stands to reason. It would be strange if he was a dick to all the kids in the classroom, that probably wouldn't make for a productive set. He was fun to be around.

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

I understood he was a huge celebrity because that's what my parents told me, but I had barely seen his movies. I knew the air around him — like, that's cool — but he wasn't scary to me. He was just fun and I just wanted to play with him when he wasn't busy. He was busy, obviously, but he'd occasionally joke around here and there, and we would cling to his muscles. He'd tense up and we'd be hanging off. He was incredibly giving. He bought every kid in the classroom a yellow cassette player, which at the time was a major status symbol. That 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 a long time on that thing. It finally gave out. I also have a genuine metal whistle. He had the referee's whistle, and the kids all received one too as well.

Do you remember your experience as being positive?

You know, it's funny, that movie is such a landmark. 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 the star himself, the direction of Ivan Reitman, traveling to Oregon, seeing the set, but my memories are of being a finitely child at lunch. Like, they got everyone pizza, but I wasn't a pizza fan. All I would eat was the pepperoni off the top. Then, the first-generation Game Boy was new. That was the coolest toy, and I was quite skilled. I was the youngest and some of the other children would bring me their Game Boys to get past hard parts on games because I knew how, and I was quite pleased with myself. So, it's all little kid memories.

That Famous Quote

OK, the infamous quote, do you remember anything about it? Did you know what you were saying?

At the time, I likely didn't understand what the word shocking meant, but I realized it got a reaction and it made adults laugh. I understood it was kind of something I wouldn't usually utter, but I was given approval in this case because it was comedic.

“My mom thought hard about it.”

How it came about, from what I understand, was they didn't have specific roles. Some character lines were established early on, but once they had the kids together, it was more of a collaboration, but they refined it on set and, I suppose the filmmakers came to my mom and said, "There's a concept. We want Miko to deliver this dialogue. Are you okay with this?" My mom paused. She said, "I need to consider this, I need time" and took a short while. She deliberated carefully. She said she wasn't sure, but she felt it would likely become one of the unforgettable moments from the movie and she was right.