I'm Known As the Iconic Line Kid from the Arnold Schwarzenegger Comedy: An Interview.

The action icon is best known as an iconic tough guy. But, in the midst of his cinematic dominance in the 1980s and 1990s, he also delivered several genuinely hilarious comedies. Chief among them is Kindergarten Cop, which marks its 35th anniversary this December.

The Story and The Famous Scene

In the hit comedy, Schwarzenegger embodies a hardened detective who goes undercover as a kindergarten teacher to catch a killer. For much of the film's runtime, the investigation plot serves as a loose framework for Schwarzenegger to film humorous moments with his young class. The most unforgettable involves a little boy named Joseph, who spontaneously rises and declares the stoic star, “Boys have a penis, and girls get a vagina.” Arnold responds dryly, “I appreciate the insight.”

That iconic child was brought to life by child star Miko Hughes. His career included a notable part on Full House as the bully to the famous sisters and the haunting part of the youngster who comes back in the film version of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. Hughes remains active today, with multiple films listed on his IMDb. Furthermore, he is a regular on the con circuit. He recently discussed his memories from the filming of the classic after all this time.

A Young Actor's Perspective

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

Miko Hughes: I believe 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 retain any flashes from that time?

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

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

My mother, mainly would accompany me to auditions. Sometimes it was a mass tryout. There'd be 20, 30 kids and we'd all simply wait around, go into the room, be in there briefly, do whatever little line they wanted and that was it. My parents would feed me the lines and then, when I became literate, that was the initial content I was reading.

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

He was extremely gentle. He was fun. He was good-natured, which I suppose stands to reason. It would be strange if he was a dick to all the kids in the classroom, that likely wouldn't create a positive atmosphere. He was fun to be around.

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

I understood he was a huge celebrity because my family informed me, but I had not actually watched his movies. I sensed the excitement — like, that's cool — but he wasn't scary to me. He was just fun and I was eager to interact with him when he had time. He was working hard, but he'd kind of play with us here and there, and we would hang off of his arms. He'd show his strength and we'd be holding on. He was exceptionally kind. He gifted all the students in the classroom a yellow cassette player, which at the time was the hottest tech. This was the coolest device, that funky old yellow cassette player. I used to rock out to the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for ages 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 time filming as being positive?

You know, it's amusing, that movie is such a landmark. It was a huge film, and it was a wonderful time, and you would think, looking back now, I would want my memories to be of the star himself, the direction of Ivan Reitman, the location shoot, seeing the set, but my memories are of being a really picky eater at lunch. For instance, they got everyone pizza, but I didn't even like pizza. All I would eat was the pepperoni off the top. Then, the original Game Boy was brand new. That was the big craze, and I was quite skilled. I was the youngest and some of the older kids would ask for my help to beat difficult stages on games because I was able to, and I was quite pleased with myself. So, it's all youthful anecdotes.

The Line

OK, the infamous quote, do you remember anything about it? Did you understand the words?

At the time, I likely didn't understand what the word shocking meant, but I knew it was provocative and it caused the crew to chuckle. I knew it was kind of something I wouldn't usually utter, but I was given an exception in this case because it was humorous.

“It was a difficult decision for her.”

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 pure improvisation, but they developed it during shooting and, presumably someone in charge came to my mom and said, "We're thinking. We want Miko to deliver this dialogue. Are you okay with this?" My mom paused. She said, "Give me a moment, I'll decide tomorrow" and took a short while. It was a tough call for her. She said she was hesitant, but she thought it could end up as one of the most memorable lines from the movie and history proved her correct.