I Was the Iconic Line Kid from the Arnold Schwarzenegger Comedy: An Interview.

The action icon is universally recognized as an iconic tough guy. However, in the midst of his blockbuster fame in the 1980s and 1990s, he also headlined several critically acclaimed comedies. The standout film is Kindergarten Cop, which celebrates its three-and-a-half decade milestone this holiday season.

The Film and The Famous Scene

In the hit comedy, Schwarzenegger portrays a tough police officer who masquerades as a elementary educator to locate a fugitive. During the story, the procedural element functions as a basic structure for Arnold to film humorous scenes with children. Arguably the most famous belongs to a little boy named Joseph, who out of nowhere announces and declares the stoic star, “Males have a penis, girls have a vagina.” Arnold replies icily, “Thanks for the tip.”

That iconic child was brought to life by child star Miko Hughes. His career encompassed a character arc on Full House playing the antagonist to the Olsen twins and the character of the child who returns in the 1989 adaptation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. Hughes remains active today, with multiple films in development. Additionally, he is a regular on popular culture events. Not long ago discussed his memories 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 youngest of all the kids on set.

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

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

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

My mother, mainly would take me to auditions. Often it was an open call. There'd be dozens of children and we'd all just have to wait, be seen, be in there for a very short time, read a small part they wanted and then leave. My parents would coach me on the dialogue and then, as soon as I could read, that was the initial content I was reading.

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

He was incredibly nice. He was enjoyable. He was nice, which I guess makes sense. It would have been odd if he was unpleasant to all the kids in the classroom, that surely wouldn't foster a good work environment. He was a joy to have on set.

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

I knew he was a major movie star because my family informed me, but I had never really seen his movies. I knew the air around him — he was a big deal — but he didn't frighten me. He was merely entertaining and I only wanted to hang out with him when he was available. He was busy, obviously, but he'd occasionally joke around here and there, and we would cling to his muscles. 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. This was the coolest device, that distinctive classic yellow cassette player. I listened to the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for ages on that thing. It finally gave out. I also have a authentic coach's whistle. He had the coach whistle, and the kids all received one too as well.

Do you remember your days on set as being positive?

You know, it's interesting, that movie became a phenomenon. It was such a big movie, and it was such an amazing experience, and you would think, in retrospect, I would want my memories to be of the star himself, the direction of Ivan Reitman, visiting Astoria, seeing the set, but my memories are of being a finitely child at lunch. For instance, they got everyone pizza, but I avoided pizza. All I would eat was the meat from the top. Then, the Nintendo Game Boy was brand new. That was the coolest toy, and I was quite skilled. I was the youngest and some of the other children would bring me their Game Boys to get past hard parts on games because I knew how, and I was quite pleased with myself. So, it's all youthful anecdotes.

The Line

OK, the penis and vagina line, do you remember how it happened? Did you understand the words?

At the time, I wasn't fully aware of 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 wasn't supposed to do, but I was given approval in this case because it was funny.

“She really wrestled with it.”

How it came about, based on what I was told, was they were still developing characters. Certain bits of dialogue were established early on, but once they had the kids together, it wasn't pure improvisation, but they developed it during shooting and, reportedly it's either the director or producers came to my mom and said, "We're thinking. We want Miko to say this. Are you okay with this?" My mom paused. She said, "Let me think about it, let me sleep on it" and took a short while. It was a tough call for her. She said she had doubts, but she felt it could end up as one of the iconic quotes from the movie and history proved her correct.