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

Arnold Schwarzenegger is universally recognized as an action movie legend. Yet, at the height of his blockbuster fame in the 1980s and 1990s, he also starred in several surprisingly great comedies. Chief among them is Kindergarten Cop, which celebrates its 35-year mark this holiday season.

The Role and That Line

In the classic film, Schwarzenegger plays a undercover cop who goes undercover as a kindergarten teacher to catch a killer. For much of the movie, the crime storyline functions as a basic structure for the star to share adorable moments with his young class. The most unforgettable features a student named Joseph, who unprompted rises and states the stoic star, “Males have a penis, girls have a vagina.” The Terminator responds dryly, “Thank you for that information.”

That iconic child was brought to life by former young actor Miko Hughes. Beyond this role included a character arc on Full House as the bully to the child stars and the haunting part of the youngster who comes back in the screen translation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He continues to act today, with multiple films listed on his IMDb. Additionally, he frequently attends fan conventions. Not long ago recalled his memories from the filming of the classic 35 years later.

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 smallest 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 snapshots. They're like picture memories.

Do you recall how you were cast in Kindergarten Cop?

My family, especially my mother would bring me to auditions. Often it was a mass tryout. There'd be dozens of children and we'd all simply wait around, enter the casting office, be in there briefly, read a small part they wanted and then leave. My parents would feed me the lines and then, as soon as I could read, that was probably the first stuff I was reading.

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

He was very kind. He was playful. He was nice, which I guess isn't too surprising. It'd be weird if he was unpleasant to all the kids in the classroom, that surely wouldn't foster a positive atmosphere. He was great to work with.

“It'd be weird if he was a dick to all the kids in the classroom.”

I knew he was a major movie star because that's what my parents told me, but I had never really seen his movies. I knew the air around him — it was exciting — but he wasn't scary to me. He was merely entertaining and I just wanted to play with him when he had time. He was working hard, but he'd sometimes engage here and there, and we would cling to his muscles. He'd tense up and we'd be holding on. He was really, really generous. He gifted all the students in the classroom a yellow cassette player, which at the time was a major status symbol. It was the must-have gadget, that iconic bright 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 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 experience as being enjoyable?

You know, it's funny, that movie became a phenomenon. It was a major production, and it was such an amazing experience, and you would think, as an adult, I would want my memories to be of the star himself, working with [director] 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 wasn't a pizza fan. All I would eat was the pepperoni off the top. Then, the first-generation Game Boy was brand new. That was the coolest toy, and I was pretty good at it. I was the smallest kid and some of the bigger kids would ask for my help to pass certain levels on games because I knew how, and I was felt accomplished. So, it's all little kid memories.

That Famous Quote

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

At the time, I probably didn't know what the word provocative meant, but I understood it was edgy and it got a big laugh. I knew it was kind of something I shouldn't normally say, but I was given special permission in this case because it was humorous.

“It was a difficult decision for her.”

How it was conceived, from what I understand, was they hadn't finalized all the dialogue. A few scenes were written into the script, but once they had the whole cast on the set, it wasn't pure improvisation, but they refined it on set and, I suppose it's either the director or producers came to my mom and said, "We have an idea. 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, let me sleep on it" and took a day or two. It was a tough call for her. She said she wasn't sure, but she thought it would likely become one of the iconic quotes from the movie and her instinct was correct.