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

The action icon is universally recognized as an action movie legend. However, in the midst of his blockbuster fame in the eighties and nineties, he also delivered several surprisingly great comedies. The standout film is Kindergarten Cop, which celebrates its three-and-a-half decade milestone this December.

The Story and An Iconic Moment

In the 1990 movie, Schwarzenegger plays a tough police officer who masquerades as a schoolteacher to track down a criminal. Throughout the film's runtime, the crime storyline acts as a basic structure for Arnold to share adorable scenes with children. Without a doubt the standout belongs to a student named Joseph, who spontaneously announces and informs the former bodybuilder, “Males have a penis, females have a vagina.” Arnold responds dryly, “I appreciate the insight.”

The boy behind the line was portrayed by child star Miko Hughes. In addition to this part included a notable part on Full House as the schoolyard menace to the famous sisters and the haunting part of the child who returns in the screen translation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He continues to act today, with several projects on the horizon. He also frequently attends fan conventions. He recently recalled his memories from the filming of the classic 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 most junior of all the kids on set.

Wow, I have no memory from being four. Do you have any memories from that time?

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

Do you recall how you were cast in Kindergarten Cop?

My mother, mainly would accompany me to auditions. Sometimes it was a mass tryout. There'd be dozens of children and we'd all simply wait around, be seen, be in there for a very short time, 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 probably the first stuff I was reading.

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

He was incredibly nice. He was playful. He was pleasant, which I guess stands to reason. It would have been odd if he was a dick to all the kids in the classroom, that probably wouldn't make for a positive atmosphere. He was fun to be around.

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

I knew he was a huge celebrity because that's what my parents told me, but I had never really seen his movies. I felt the importance — like, that's cool — but he didn't really intimidate me. He was simply playful and I just wanted to play with him when he was available. He was occupied, of course, but he'd sometimes engage here and there, and we would dangle from his limbs. He'd flex and we'd be holding on. He was really, really generous. He bought every kid in the classroom a personal stereo, which at the time was the hottest tech. This was the must-have gadget, 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 finally gave out. I also have a genuine metal whistle. He had the referee's whistle, and the kids all got a whistle as well.

Do you remember your experience as being enjoyable?

You know, it's amusing, that movie is such a landmark. It was a major production, 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, the location shoot, being on a professional set, but my memories are of being a selective diner at lunch. For example, they got everyone pizza, but I avoided pizza. All I would eat was the meat from the top. Then, the original Game Boy was brand new. That was the hot thing, and I was proficient. I was the smallest kid and some of the bigger kids would bring me their Game Boys to get past hard parts on games because I knew how, and I was felt accomplished. So, it's all childhood recollections.

That Famous Quote

OK, the infamous quote, do you remember the context? 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 made adults laugh. I knew it was kind of something I wasn't supposed to do, but I was given special permission in this case because it was funny.

“She really wrestled with it.”

How it originated, based on what I was told, was they hadn't finalized all the dialogue. Some character lines were established early on, but once they had the entire ensemble assembled, it wasn't necessarily improv, but they worked on it while filming and, I suppose someone in charge came to my mom and said, "We have an idea. We want Miko to deliver this dialogue. Are you okay with this?" My mom didn't answer immediately. She said, "I need to consider this, I need time" and took a day or two. She deliberated carefully. She said she was hesitant, but she believed it would likely become one of the most memorable lines from the movie and her instinct was correct.