I'm Known As the Iconic Line Kid from Kindergarten Cop: An Interview.

The Austrian Oak is universally recognized as an Hollywood heavyweight. However, during the peak of his blockbuster fame in the eighties and nineties, he also starred in several surprisingly great comedies. Chief among them is Kindergarten Cop, which celebrates its 35th anniversary this holiday season.

The Role and An Iconic Moment

In the classic film, Schwarzenegger plays a undercover cop who masquerades as a elementary educator to track down a criminal. For much of the story, the investigation plot functions as a basic structure for the star to have charming scenes with children. The most unforgettable features a student named Joseph, who unprompted stands up and declares the stoic star, “It's boys who have a penis, and girls get a vagina.” Schwarzenegger replies icily, “Thank you for that information.”

The boy behind the line was brought to life by former young actor Miko Hughes. In addition to this part featured a notable part on Full House playing the antagonist to the Olsen twins 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 listed on his IMDb. Furthermore, he frequently attends popular culture events. He recently discussed his memories from the production 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 remarkable, I can't remember being four. Do you have any memories from that time?

Yeah, somewhat. 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. Frequently it was like a cattle call. There'd be dozens of children and we'd all simply wait around, be seen, be in there briefly, deliver a quick line they wanted and then leave. My parents would help me learn the words and then, as soon as I could read, that was probably the first stuff I was reading.

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

He was very kind. He was enjoyable. He was pleasant, which arguably makes sense. It would have been odd if he was unpleasant to all the kids in the classroom, that surely wouldn't foster a productive set. He was fun to be around.

“It would have been odd if he was mean to all the kids in the classroom.”

I knew he was a huge celebrity because I was told, but I had never really seen his movies. I knew the air around him — it was exciting — but he didn't frighten me. He was just fun and I was eager to interact with him when he had time. He was working hard, but he'd sometimes engage here and there, and we would cling to his muscles. He'd tense up and we'd be dangling there. He was really, really generous. He gifted all the students in the classroom a yellow cassette player, which at the time was a major status symbol. That was the coolest device, that iconic bright yellow cassette player. I played the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for years on that thing on that thing. It wore out in time. I also have a real silver whistle. He had the coach whistle, and the kids all got a whistle as well.

Do you remember your time filming as being fun?

You know, it's interesting, that movie was this cultural thing. It was such a big movie, and it was a wonderful time, and you would think, as an adult, I would want my memories to be of collaborating with Schwarzenegger, the legendary director, visiting Astoria, seeing the set, but my memories are of being a finitely child at lunch. Like, they got everyone pizza, but I avoided pizza. All I would eat was the pepperoni off the top. Then, the Nintendo Game Boy was new. That was the big craze, and I was pretty good at it. I was the smallest kid and some of the other children 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 youthful anecdotes.

The Infamous Moment

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 taboo meant, but I understood it was edgy and it caused the crew to chuckle. I was aware it was kind of something I wouldn't usually utter, but I was given special permission in this case because it was humorous.

“It was a difficult decision for her.”

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 whole cast on the set, it wasn't necessarily improv, but they refined it on set and, presumably 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 paused. She said, "Let me think about it, I need time" and took a day or two. She deliberated carefully. She said she had doubts, but she believed it will probably be one of the unforgettable moments from the movie and history proved her correct.