I'm Known As the Iconic Line Kid from Kindergarten Cop: A Look Back.
The Austrian Oak is universally recognized as an Hollywood heavyweight. However, during the peak of his blockbuster fame in the eighties and nineties, he also delivered several surprisingly great comedies. Chief among them is Kindergarten Cop, which hits its three-and-a-half decade milestone this December.
The Role and An Iconic Moment
In the classic film, Schwarzenegger portrays a hardened detective who masquerades as a kindergarten teacher to track down a criminal. During the film's runtime, the crime storyline functions as a basic structure for Schwarzenegger to have charming moments with his young class. Arguably the most famous involves a child named Joseph, who spontaneously stands up and declares the former bodybuilder, “It's boys who have a penis, and girls get a vagina.” The Terminator responds dryly, “I appreciate the insight.”
The boy behind the line was brought to life by youth performer Miko Hughes. His career featured a notable part on Full House playing the antagonist to the Olsen twins and the character of the child who returns in the film version of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. Hughes remains active today, with several projects in development. Additionally, he frequently attends popular culture events. Not long ago discussed his recollections from the filming of the classic 35 years later.
Memories from the Set
Q: To begin, 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.
That's remarkable, I don't recall being four. Do you retain any flashes from that time?
Yeah, somewhat. They're snapshots. They're like mental photographs.
Do you recall how you were cast in Kindergarten Cop?
My parents, primarily my mom would bring me to auditions. Sometimes it was like a cattle call. There'd be 20, 30 kids and we'd all simply wait around, be seen, be in there less than five minutes, 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 some of the first material I was reading.
Do you have an impression of meeting Arnold? What was your impression of him?
He was incredibly nice. He was playful. He was good-natured, which I guess stands to reason. It'd be weird if he was unpleasant to all the kids in the classroom, that probably wouldn't make for a productive set. 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 major movie star because my family informed me, but I had barely seen his movies. I felt the importance — it was exciting — 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 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 bought every kid in the classroom a Sony Walkman, which at the time was the hottest tech. This was the must-have gadget, that distinctive classic yellow cassette player. I played the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for ages on that thing. It finally gave out. I also have a real silver whistle. He had the coach whistle, and the kids all got a whistle as well.
Do you remember your days on set as being positive?
You know, it's funny, that movie became a phenomenon. It was such a big movie, and it was a wonderful time, and you would think, as an adult, I would want my memories to be of working with Arnold, the direction of 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 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 proficient. I was the smallest kid and some of the older kids would hand me their devices to get past hard parts on games because I knew how, and I was felt accomplished. 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 got a big laugh. I understood it was kind of something I wouldn't usually utter, but I was given an exception in this case because it was funny.
“My mom thought hard about it.”
How it originated, from what I understand, was they didn't have specific roles. A few scenes were written into the script, but once they had the kids together, it wasn't pure improvisation, but they developed it during shooting and, I suppose someone in charge came to my mom and said, "We're thinking. We want Miko to say this. Are you okay with this?" My mom didn't agree right away. 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 was hesitant, but she felt it will probably be one of the iconic quotes from the movie and her instinct was correct.
