🔗 Share this article I Was the Iconic Line Kid from the Arnold Schwarzenegger Comedy: A Candid Conversation. The Austrian Oak is best known as an Hollywood heavyweight. Yet, during the peak of his blockbuster fame in the late 20th century, he also starred in several genuinely hilarious comedies. The standout film is Kindergarten Cop, which marks its 35th anniversary this December. The Role and That Line In the hit comedy, Schwarzenegger embodies a hardened detective who masquerades as a elementary educator to track down a criminal. For much of the film's runtime, the procedural element serves as a loose framework for the star to film humorous moments with his young class. The most unforgettable involves a student named Joseph, who unprompted rises and informs the stoic star, “Boys have a penis, and girls get a vagina.” Arnold replies icily, “I appreciate the insight.” That iconic child was portrayed by former young actor Miko Hughes. His career encompassed a recurring role on Full House as the schoolyard menace to the Olsen twins and the haunting part of the child who returns in the 1989 adaptation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. Hughes remains active today, with multiple films on the horizon. Furthermore, he frequently attends fan conventions. He recently recalled his memories from the filming of the classic over three decades on. Memories from the Set 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. That's impressive, I have no memory from being four. Do you have any memories from that time? Yeah, somewhat. They're brief images. They're like visual recollections. Do you recall how you got the part in Kindergarten Cop? My mother, mainly would take me to auditions. Frequently it was a mass tryout. There'd be 20, 30 kids and we'd all just have to wait, go into the room, be in there less than five minutes, read a small part 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 impression of him? He was very kind. He was fun. He was nice, which I guess makes sense. It would be strange if he was a dick to all the kids in the classroom, that surely wouldn't foster a positive atmosphere. He was a joy to have on set. “It would be strange if he was unpleasant to all the kids in the classroom.” I knew he was a big action star because I was told, but I had barely seen his movies. I felt the importance — it was exciting — but he didn't really intimidate me. He was merely entertaining and I just wanted to play with him when he had time. He was occupied, of course, but he'd sometimes engage here and there, and we would hang off of his arms. He'd tense up and we'd be hanging off. He was really, really generous. He purchased for each child in the classroom a yellow cassette player, which at the time was the hottest tech. This 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 a long time on that thing. It wore out in time. I also received a authentic coach's whistle. He had the teacher's whistle, and the kids all received one too as well. Do you remember your experience as being positive? You know, it's funny, that movie is such a landmark. It was such a big movie, and it was a wonderful time, and you would think, in retrospect, I would want my memories to be of collaborating with Schwarzenegger, the legendary director, the location shoot, the production design, but my memories are of being a selective diner at lunch. For instance, they got everyone pizza, but I didn't even like pizza. All I would eat was the toppings only. Then, the original Game Boy was new. That was the big craze, and I was proficient. I was the youngest and some of the bigger kids would hand me their devices to get past hard parts on games because I knew how, and I was really proud of that. So, it's all youthful anecdotes. The Line OK, the penis and vagina line, do you remember anything about it? Did you know what you were saying? At the time, I probably didn't know what the word shocking meant, but I realized it got a reaction and it caused the crew to chuckle. I understood it was kind of something I wasn't supposed to do, but I was given an exception in this case because it was funny. “She really wrestled with it.” How it was conceived, based on what I was told, was they hadn't finalized all the dialogue. Certain bits of dialogue were part of the original screenplay, but once they had the entire ensemble assembled, it wasn't necessarily improv, but they refined it on set and, I suppose it's either the director or producers came to my mom and said, "We're thinking. We want Miko to have this line. Are you okay with this?" My mom paused. She said, "I need to consider this, I need time" and took a short while. It was a tough call for her. She said she had doubts, but she thought it would likely become one of the unforgettable moments from the movie and she was right.
The Austrian Oak is best known as an Hollywood heavyweight. Yet, during the peak of his blockbuster fame in the late 20th century, he also starred in several genuinely hilarious comedies. The standout film is Kindergarten Cop, which marks its 35th anniversary this December. The Role and That Line In the hit comedy, Schwarzenegger embodies a hardened detective who masquerades as a elementary educator to track down a criminal. For much of the film's runtime, the procedural element serves as a loose framework for the star to film humorous moments with his young class. The most unforgettable involves a student named Joseph, who unprompted rises and informs the stoic star, “Boys have a penis, and girls get a vagina.” Arnold replies icily, “I appreciate the insight.” That iconic child was portrayed by former young actor Miko Hughes. His career encompassed a recurring role on Full House as the schoolyard menace to the Olsen twins and the haunting part of the child who returns in the 1989 adaptation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. Hughes remains active today, with multiple films on the horizon. Furthermore, he frequently attends fan conventions. He recently recalled his memories from the filming of the classic over three decades on. Memories from the Set 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. That's impressive, I have no memory from being four. Do you have any memories from that time? Yeah, somewhat. They're brief images. They're like visual recollections. Do you recall how you got the part in Kindergarten Cop? My mother, mainly would take me to auditions. Frequently it was a mass tryout. There'd be 20, 30 kids and we'd all just have to wait, go into the room, be in there less than five minutes, read a small part 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 impression of him? He was very kind. He was fun. He was nice, which I guess makes sense. It would be strange if he was a dick to all the kids in the classroom, that surely wouldn't foster a positive atmosphere. He was a joy to have on set. “It would be strange if he was unpleasant to all the kids in the classroom.” I knew he was a big action star because I was told, but I had barely seen his movies. I felt the importance — it was exciting — but he didn't really intimidate me. He was merely entertaining and I just wanted to play with him when he had time. He was occupied, of course, but he'd sometimes engage here and there, and we would hang off of his arms. He'd tense up and we'd be hanging off. He was really, really generous. He purchased for each child in the classroom a yellow cassette player, which at the time was the hottest tech. This 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 a long time on that thing. It wore out in time. I also received a authentic coach's whistle. He had the teacher's whistle, and the kids all received one too as well. Do you remember your experience as being positive? You know, it's funny, that movie is such a landmark. It was such a big movie, and it was a wonderful time, and you would think, in retrospect, I would want my memories to be of collaborating with Schwarzenegger, the legendary director, the location shoot, the production design, but my memories are of being a selective diner at lunch. For instance, they got everyone pizza, but I didn't even like pizza. All I would eat was the toppings only. Then, the original Game Boy was new. That was the big craze, and I was proficient. I was the youngest and some of the bigger kids would hand me their devices to get past hard parts on games because I knew how, and I was really proud of that. So, it's all youthful anecdotes. The Line OK, the penis and vagina line, do you remember anything about it? Did you know what you were saying? At the time, I probably didn't know what the word shocking meant, but I realized it got a reaction and it caused the crew to chuckle. I understood it was kind of something I wasn't supposed to do, but I was given an exception in this case because it was funny. “She really wrestled with it.” How it was conceived, based on what I was told, was they hadn't finalized all the dialogue. Certain bits of dialogue were part of the original screenplay, but once they had the entire ensemble assembled, it wasn't necessarily improv, but they refined it on set and, I suppose it's either the director or producers came to my mom and said, "We're thinking. We want Miko to have this line. Are you okay with this?" My mom paused. She said, "I need to consider this, I need time" and took a short while. It was a tough call for her. She said she had doubts, but she thought it would likely become one of the unforgettable moments from the movie and she was right.