I Was the Iconic Line Kid from Kindergarten Cop: An Interview.
The Austrian Oak is universally recognized as an Hollywood heavyweight. However, at the height of his star power in the eighties and nineties, he also starred in several genuinely hilarious comedies. The standout film is Kindergarten Cop, which hits its 35-year mark this December.
The Film and That Line
In the 1990 movie, Schwarzenegger plays a undercover cop who goes undercover as a elementary educator to locate a fugitive. During the film's runtime, the crime storyline serves as a simple backdrop for the star to have charming scenes with children. Arguably the most famous features a child named Joseph, who out of nowhere stands up and informs the stoic star, “It's boys who have a penis, girls have a vagina.” Schwarzenegger replies icily, “Thanks for the tip.”
The boy behind the line was portrayed by former young actor Miko Hughes. His career included a notable part on Full House as the bully to the famous sisters and the character of the youngster who comes back in the film version of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He still works in film today, with multiple films listed on his IMDb. Furthermore, he is a regular on fan conventions. Not long ago recalled his experiences 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 think I was four. I was the most junior of all the kids on set.
That's remarkable, I have no memory from being four. Do you remember anything from that time?
Yeah, a little bit. They're snapshots. They're like visual recollections.
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 20, 30 kids and we'd all just have to wait, be seen, be in there for a very short time, read a small part they wanted and that's all. 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 an impression of meeting Arnold? What was your impression of him?
He was incredibly nice. He was fun. He was nice, which I suppose stands to reason. It would have been odd if he was mean to all the kids in the classroom, that likely wouldn't create a good work environment. He was a joy to have on set.
“It would have been odd if he was a dick 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 barely seen his movies. I felt the importance — like, that's cool — but he wasn't scary to me. He was just fun and I was eager to interact with him when he wasn't busy. He was working hard, but he'd occasionally joke around here and there, and we would cling to his muscles. He'd show his strength and we'd be dangling there. He was exceptionally kind. He gifted all the students in the classroom a Sony Walkman, which at the time was a major status symbol. It was the hottest tech out there, that funky old yellow cassette player. I used to rock out 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 real silver whistle. He had the referee's whistle, and the kids all were gifted copies as well.
Do you remember your time filming as being enjoyable?
You know, it's interesting, that movie was this cultural thing. 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 working with Arnold, the direction of Ivan Reitman, the location shoot, the production design, but my memories are of being a selective diner at lunch. For example, they got everyone pizza, but I didn't even like pizza. All I would eat was the pepperoni off the top. Then, the Nintendo Game Boy was brand new. That was the coolest toy, and I was quite skilled. I was the youngest and some of the older kids would bring me their Game Boys to beat difficult stages on games because I knew how, and I was quite pleased with myself. So, it's all little kid memories.
The Line
OK, the penis and vagina line, do you remember anything about it? Did you understand the words?
At the time, I likely didn't understand what the word shocking meant, but I realized it got a reaction and it made adults laugh. I was aware 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, from what I understand, was they didn't have specific roles. Some character lines were established early on, but once they had the whole cast on the set, it wasn't pure improvisation, but they developed it during shooting and, presumably the filmmakers came to my mom and said, "We're thinking. We want Miko to deliver this dialogue. Are you okay with this?" My mom paused. She said, "I need to consider this, I need time" and took a day or two. She deliberated carefully. She said she was hesitant, but she believed it could end up as one of the most memorable lines from the movie and her instinct was correct.
