I'm Known As the Iconic Line Kid from the Arnold Schwarzenegger Comedy: A Candid Conversation.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is rightfully celebrated as an action movie legend. But, in the midst of his blockbuster fame in the 1980s and 1990s, he also delivered several surprisingly great comedies. Chief among them is Kindergarten Cop, which hits its 35-year mark this December.

The Role and That Line

In the classic film, Schwarzenegger portrays a hardened detective who poses as a kindergarten teacher to catch a killer. Throughout the movie, the crime storyline acts as a simple backdrop for Arnold to film humorous moments with his young class. The most unforgettable involves a little boy named Joseph, who unprompted announces and informs the stoic star, “It's boys who have a penis, females have a vagina.” The Terminator responds dryly, “I appreciate the insight.”

The young actor was portrayed by child star Miko Hughes. His career encompassed a recurring role on Full House as the schoolyard menace to the famous sisters and the pivotal role of the resurrected boy in the film version of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He continues to act today, with multiple films on the horizon. Furthermore, he engages with fans at popular culture events. Recently recalled his recollections from the set of Kindergarten Cop after all this time.

Behind the Scenes

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

Miko Hughes: I think I was four. I was the most junior of all the kids on set.

That's impressive, I don't recall being four. Do you remember anything from that time?

Yeah, to a degree. They're brief images. They're like picture memories.

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

My family, especially my mother would bring me to auditions. Often it was an open call. There'd be a room full of young actors and we'd all patiently queue, go into the room, be in there briefly, do whatever little line they wanted and that's all. My parents would coach me on the dialogue and then, once I learned to read, that was probably the first stuff I was reading.

Do you have a specific memory of meeting Arnold? What was your impression of him?

He was incredibly nice. He was playful. He was nice, which arguably makes sense. It'd be weird if he was mean to all the kids in the classroom, that probably wouldn't make for a good work environment. He was fun to be around.

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

I was aware he was a big action star because my family informed me, but I had never really 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 was available. He was working hard, but he'd occasionally joke around here and there, and we would hang off of his arms. He'd tense up and we'd be dangling there. He was really, really generous. He bought every kid in the classroom a personal stereo, which at the time was the hottest tech. It was the must-have gadget, that iconic bright yellow cassette player. I used to rock out to the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for ages on that thing. It eventually broke. I also was given a real silver whistle. He had the teacher's whistle, and the kids all received one too as well.

Do you remember your days on set as being fun?

You know, it's funny, that movie was this cultural thing. It was a huge film, and it was such an amazing experience, and you would think, looking back now, I would want my memories to be of working with Arnold, the direction of Ivan Reitman, visiting Astoria, being on a professional set, but my memories are of being a finitely child at lunch. For example, they got everyone pizza, but I avoided pizza. All I would eat was the meat from the top. Then, the first-generation Game Boy was new. That was the hot thing, and I was pretty good at it. I was the youngest and some of the bigger kids would hand me their devices to get past hard parts on games because I could do it, and I was quite pleased with myself. So, it's all childhood recollections.

The Line

OK, that specific dialogue, do you remember anything about it? Did you know what you were saying?

At the time, I probably didn't know 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 approval 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 were still developing characters. A few scenes were part of the original screenplay, but once they had the whole cast on the set, it wasn't necessarily improv, but they developed it during shooting and, I suppose 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, "I need to consider this, I'll decide tomorrow" and took a day or two. She deliberated carefully. She said she had doubts, but she thought it could end up as one of the iconic quotes from the movie and her instinct was correct.