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

The Austrian Oak is universally recognized as an iconic tough guy. Yet, during the peak of his cinematic dominance in the 1980s and 1990s, he also headlined several surprisingly great comedies. A prime example is Kindergarten Cop, which celebrates its three-and-a-half decade milestone this winter.

The Story and The Famous Scene

In the hit comedy, Schwarzenegger plays a undercover cop who goes undercover as a elementary educator to track down a criminal. Throughout the movie, the crime storyline serves as a basic structure for the star to share adorable scenes with children. The most unforgettable features a child named Joseph, who spontaneously announces and states the stoic star, “Boys have a penis, females have a vagina.” Arnold responds dryly, “Thank you for that information.”

That iconic child was portrayed by former young actor Miko Hughes. In addition to this part encompassed a notable part on Full House as the bully to the child stars and the pivotal role of the youngster who comes back in the 1989 adaptation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. Hughes remains active today, with several projects listed on his IMDb. He also is a regular on popular culture events. He recently recalled his recollections from the set of Kindergarten Cop over three decades on.

Behind the Scenes

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.

Wow, I can't remember being four. Do you have any memories from that time?

Yeah, a little bit. They're brief images. They're like picture memories.

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

My parents, primarily my mom would accompany me to auditions. Often it was like a cattle call. There'd be a room full of young actors and we'd all just have to wait, be seen, be in there briefly, do whatever little line they wanted and that was it. My parents would coach me on the dialogue and then, when I became literate, that was the initial content I was reading.

Do you have any recollection of meeting Arnold? What was your feeling about him?

He was extremely gentle. He was playful. He was good-natured, which I suppose isn't too surprising. It would be strange if he was unpleasant to all the kids in the classroom, that likely wouldn't create 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 huge celebrity because I was told, but I had not actually watched his movies. I felt the importance — like, that's cool — but he didn't frighten me. He was merely entertaining and I only wanted to hang out with him when he wasn't busy. He was busy, obviously, but he'd occasionally joke around here and there, and we would cling to his muscles. He'd flex and we'd be hanging off. He was really, really generous. He bought every kid in the classroom a Sony Walkman, which at the time was like an iPhone. It was the hottest tech out there, that funky old yellow cassette player. I played 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 genuine metal whistle. He had the coach whistle, and the kids all got a whistle as well.

Do you remember your time filming as being enjoyable?

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 collaborating with Schwarzenegger, the legendary director, visiting Astoria, seeing the 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 toppings only. Then, the original Game Boy was just released. That was the hot thing, and I was proficient. I was the youngest and some of the older 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 little kid memories.

The Infamous Moment

OK, the infamous quote, do you remember how it happened? Did you grasp the meaning?

At the time, I wasn't fully aware of what the word shocking meant, but I realized it got a reaction and it made adults laugh. I understood it was kind of something I wasn't supposed to do, but I was given approval in this case because it was comedic.

“She really wrestled with it.”

How it originated, based on what I was told, was they didn't have specific roles. A few scenes were established early on, but once they had the whole cast on the set, it was more of a collaboration, but they developed it during shooting and, reportedly it's either the director or producers came to my mom and said, "There's a concept. We want Miko to deliver this dialogue. Are you okay with this?" My mom didn't agree right away. She said, "Give me a moment, I need time" and took a day or two. It was a tough call for her. She said she was hesitant, but she thought it could end up as one of the iconic quotes from the movie and history proved her correct.