🔗 Share this article I Am the Iconic Line Kid from Kindergarten Cop: An Interview. The Austrian Oak is best known as an Hollywood heavyweight. But, in the midst of his blockbuster fame in the 1980s and 1990s, he also delivered several critically acclaimed comedies. Chief among them is Kindergarten Cop, which hits its 35th anniversary this holiday season. The Film and That Line In the 1990 movie, Schwarzenegger portrays a undercover cop who masquerades as a kindergarten teacher to catch a killer. For much of the movie, the procedural element serves as a simple backdrop for Arnold to have charming scenes with children. The most unforgettable belongs to a little boy named Joseph, who spontaneously announces and informs the former bodybuilder, “It's boys who have a penis, girls have a vagina.” Schwarzenegger replies icily, “I appreciate the insight.” The young actor was portrayed by youth performer Miko Hughes. Beyond this role encompassed a notable part on Full House playing the antagonist to the child stars and the haunting part of the youngster who comes back in the film version of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. Hughes remains active today, with a slate of movies listed on his IMDb. Additionally, he engages with fans at popular culture events. He recently discussed his memories from the set of Kindergarten Cop over three decades on. Behind the Scenes Q: To begin, how old were you when you filmed Kindergarten Cop? Miko Hughes: I believe I was four. I was the most junior of all the kids on set. Wow, 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 landed the job in Kindergarten Cop? My family, especially my mother would take me to auditions. Often it was a mass tryout. There'd be 20, 30 kids and we'd all just have to wait, enter the casting office, be in there less than five minutes, do whatever little line they wanted and then leave. My parents would help me learn the words and then, as soon as I could read, that was probably the first stuff I was reading. Do you have a specific memory of meeting Arnold? What was your take on him? He was extremely gentle. He was playful. He was pleasant, which arguably stands to reason. It would have been odd if he was unpleasant to all the kids in the classroom, that probably wouldn't make for a positive atmosphere. He was great to work with. “It would be strange if he was unpleasant to all the kids in the classroom.” I understood 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 — like, that's cool — but he didn't really intimidate me. He was just fun and I just wanted to play with him when he had time. He was busy, obviously, but he'd occasionally joke around here and there, and we would hang off of his arms. He'd flex and we'd be dangling there. He was exceptionally kind. He purchased for each child in the classroom a yellow cassette player, which at the time was the hottest tech. This was the coolest device, that iconic bright yellow cassette player. I played the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for a long time on that thing. It eventually broke. I also received a authentic coach's whistle. He had the teacher's whistle, and the kids all got a whistle as well. Do you remember your experience as being positive? You know, it's funny, that movie was this cultural thing. It was such a big movie, and it was a wonderful time, and you would think, looking back now, I would want my memories to be of the star himself, the direction of Ivan Reitman, visiting Astoria, being on a professional set, but my memories are of being a finitely child at lunch. For instance, they got everyone pizza, but I didn't even like pizza. All I would eat was the meat from the top. Then, the Nintendo Game Boy was brand new. That was the big craze, and I was quite skilled. I was the youngest and some of the other children would hand me their devices 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 Line OK, the infamous quote, do you remember the context? Did you know what you were saying? At the time, I likely didn't understand what the word provocative meant, but I realized it got a reaction 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. “My mom thought hard about it.” How it originated, based on what I was told, was they didn't have specific roles. Certain bits of dialogue were written into the script, but once they had the entire ensemble assembled, it wasn't necessarily improv, but they refined it on set and, I suppose someone in charge came to my mom and said, "There's a concept. We want Miko to say this. Are you okay with this?" My mom didn't answer immediately. She said, "Let me think about it, I'll decide tomorrow" and took a short while. It was a tough call for her. She said she had doubts, but she believed it could end up as one of the unforgettable moments from the movie and history proved her correct.
The Austrian Oak is best known as an Hollywood heavyweight. But, in the midst of his blockbuster fame in the 1980s and 1990s, he also delivered several critically acclaimed comedies. Chief among them is Kindergarten Cop, which hits its 35th anniversary this holiday season. The Film and That Line In the 1990 movie, Schwarzenegger portrays a undercover cop who masquerades as a kindergarten teacher to catch a killer. For much of the movie, the procedural element serves as a simple backdrop for Arnold to have charming scenes with children. The most unforgettable belongs to a little boy named Joseph, who spontaneously announces and informs the former bodybuilder, “It's boys who have a penis, girls have a vagina.” Schwarzenegger replies icily, “I appreciate the insight.” The young actor was portrayed by youth performer Miko Hughes. Beyond this role encompassed a notable part on Full House playing the antagonist to the child stars and the haunting part of the youngster who comes back in the film version of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. Hughes remains active today, with a slate of movies listed on his IMDb. Additionally, he engages with fans at popular culture events. He recently discussed his memories from the set of Kindergarten Cop over three decades on. Behind the Scenes Q: To begin, how old were you when you filmed Kindergarten Cop? Miko Hughes: I believe I was four. I was the most junior of all the kids on set. Wow, 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 landed the job in Kindergarten Cop? My family, especially my mother would take me to auditions. Often it was a mass tryout. There'd be 20, 30 kids and we'd all just have to wait, enter the casting office, be in there less than five minutes, do whatever little line they wanted and then leave. My parents would help me learn the words and then, as soon as I could read, that was probably the first stuff I was reading. Do you have a specific memory of meeting Arnold? What was your take on him? He was extremely gentle. He was playful. He was pleasant, which arguably stands to reason. It would have been odd if he was unpleasant to all the kids in the classroom, that probably wouldn't make for a positive atmosphere. He was great to work with. “It would be strange if he was unpleasant to all the kids in the classroom.” I understood 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 — like, that's cool — but he didn't really intimidate me. He was just fun and I just wanted to play with him when he had time. He was busy, obviously, but he'd occasionally joke around here and there, and we would hang off of his arms. He'd flex and we'd be dangling there. He was exceptionally kind. He purchased for each child in the classroom a yellow cassette player, which at the time was the hottest tech. This was the coolest device, that iconic bright yellow cassette player. I played the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for a long time on that thing. It eventually broke. I also received a authentic coach's whistle. He had the teacher's whistle, and the kids all got a whistle as well. Do you remember your experience as being positive? You know, it's funny, that movie was this cultural thing. It was such a big movie, and it was a wonderful time, and you would think, looking back now, I would want my memories to be of the star himself, the direction of Ivan Reitman, visiting Astoria, being on a professional set, but my memories are of being a finitely child at lunch. For instance, they got everyone pizza, but I didn't even like pizza. All I would eat was the meat from the top. Then, the Nintendo Game Boy was brand new. That was the big craze, and I was quite skilled. I was the youngest and some of the other children would hand me their devices 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 Line OK, the infamous quote, do you remember the context? Did you know what you were saying? At the time, I likely didn't understand what the word provocative meant, but I realized it got a reaction 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. “My mom thought hard about it.” How it originated, based on what I was told, was they didn't have specific roles. Certain bits of dialogue were written into the script, but once they had the entire ensemble assembled, it wasn't necessarily improv, but they refined it on set and, I suppose someone in charge came to my mom and said, "There's a concept. We want Miko to say this. Are you okay with this?" My mom didn't answer immediately. She said, "Let me think about it, I'll decide tomorrow" and took a short while. It was a tough call for her. She said she had doubts, but she believed it could end up as one of the unforgettable moments from the movie and history proved her correct.