I Am the Iconic Line Kid from the Classic 1990 Film: A Candid Conversation.

The Austrian Oak is best known as an action movie legend. However, at the height of his blockbuster fame in the late 20th century, he also delivered several critically acclaimed comedies. A prime example is Kindergarten Cop, which hits its three-and-a-half decade milestone this winter.

The Role and That Line

In the 1990 movie, Schwarzenegger embodies a undercover cop who goes undercover as a kindergarten teacher to catch a killer. Throughout the story, the crime storyline acts as a basic structure for Schwarzenegger to film humorous interactions with kids. Arguably the most famous involves a little boy named Joseph, who out of nowhere announces and declares the former bodybuilder, “Males have a penis, girls have a vagina.” Schwarzenegger replies icily, “I appreciate the insight.”

The young actor was portrayed by child star Miko Hughes. In addition to this part featured a notable part on Full House as the bully to the Olsen twins and the pivotal role of the resurrected boy in the film version of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. Hughes remains active today, with several projects listed on his IMDb. Additionally, he is a regular on popular culture events. Not long ago shared his recollections from the set of Kindergarten Cop after all this time.

Memories from the Set

Interviewer: First, 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 remarkable, I can't remember being four. Do you retain any flashes from that time?

Yeah, somewhat. They're flashes. They're like picture memories.

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

My family, especially my mother would accompany me to auditions. Often it was an open call. There'd be 20, 30 kids and we'd all patiently queue, go into the room, be in there for a very short time, read a small part they wanted and that was it. My parents would help me learn the words and then, when I became literate, that was probably the first stuff I was reading.

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

He was extremely gentle. He was playful. He was pleasant, which I suppose makes sense. It would be strange if he was mean to all the kids in the classroom, that surely wouldn't foster a productive set. He was fun to be around.

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

I knew he was a big action star because my family informed me, but I had barely seen his movies. I knew the air around him — he was a big deal — but he didn't really intimidate me. He was simply playful and I only wanted to hang out with him when he was available. He was busy, obviously, 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 hanging off. He was incredibly giving. He gifted all the students in the classroom a yellow cassette player, which at the time was like an iPhone. It was the hottest tech out there, that distinctive classic yellow cassette player. I listened to the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for years on that thing on that thing. It wore out in time. I also was given a authentic coach's whistle. He had the referee's whistle, and the kids all were gifted copies as well.

Do you remember your time filming as being positive?

You know, it's interesting, that movie became a phenomenon. 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 working with Arnold, the direction of Ivan Reitman, visiting Astoria, being on a professional set, but my memories are of being a selective diner 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 hot thing, and I was pretty good at it. I was the youngest and some of the older kids would bring me their Game Boys to beat difficult stages on games because I was able to, and I was quite pleased with myself. So, it's all little kid memories.

The Infamous Moment

OK, the penis and vagina line, do you remember how it happened? Did you know what you were saying?

At the time, I probably didn't know 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 shouldn't normally say, but I was given approval in this case because it was funny.

“My mom thought hard about it.”

How it originated, according to family lore, was they didn't have specific roles. Some character lines were written into the script, but once they had the whole cast on the set, it wasn't necessarily improv, but they refined it on set and, reportedly the filmmakers came to my mom and said, "We're thinking. We want Miko to have this line. Are you okay with this?" My mom didn't agree right away. She said, "Give me a moment, I'll decide tomorrow" and took a short while. She deliberated carefully. She said she was hesitant, but she thought it will probably be one of the iconic quotes from the movie and her instinct was correct.