🔗 Share this article I Was the Iconic Line Kid from Kindergarten Cop: An Interview. The Austrian Oak is universally recognized as an Hollywood heavyweight. But, in the midst of his blockbuster fame in the eighties and nineties, he also headlined several surprisingly great comedies. A prime example is Kindergarten Cop, which marks its 35-year mark this holiday season. The Role and An Iconic Moment In the classic film, Schwarzenegger embodies a hardened detective who poses as a schoolteacher to catch a killer. During the story, the procedural element serves as a basic structure for the star to have charming interactions with kids. Without a doubt the standout involves a little boy named Joseph, who spontaneously announces and declares the actor, “Males have a penis, girls have a vagina.” Arnold replies icily, “I appreciate the insight.” The young actor was portrayed by child star Miko Hughes. Beyond this role encompassed a notable part on Full House as the schoolyard menace to the famous sisters and the haunting part of the child who returns in the 1989 adaptation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He continues to act today, with several projects in development. Additionally, he is a regular on fan conventions. He recently discussed his experiences from the production 35 years later. A Young Actor's Perspective 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. That's impressive, I have no memory from being four. Do you retain any flashes from that time? Yeah, somewhat. They're flashes. They're like picture memories. Do you recall how you landed the job in Kindergarten Cop? My parents, primarily my mom would bring me to auditions. Sometimes it was like a cattle call. There'd be a room full of young actors and we'd all patiently queue, enter the casting office, be in there for a very short time, do whatever little line they wanted and then leave. My parents would coach me on the dialogue and then, when I became literate, that was some of the first material I was reading. Do you have an impression of meeting Arnold? What was your feeling about him? He was incredibly nice. He was fun. He was good-natured, which arguably makes sense. It would have been odd 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 mean to all the kids in the classroom.” I knew he was a big action star because my family informed me, but I had never really seen his movies. I knew the air around him — it was exciting — but he didn't really intimidate me. He was just fun and I was eager to interact with him when he wasn't busy. He was occupied, of course, but he'd kind of play with us here and there, and we would hang off of his arms. He'd show his strength and we'd be holding on. He was exceptionally kind. He gifted all the students in the classroom a Sony Walkman, which at the time was like an iPhone. That was the hottest tech out there, that funky old yellow cassette player. I listened to the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for years on that thing on that thing. It finally gave out. I also have a genuine metal whistle. He had the teacher's whistle, and the kids all were gifted copies as well. Do you remember your time filming as being positive? You know, it's interesting, that movie was this cultural thing. It was a major production, and it was such an amazing experience, and you would think, in retrospect, I would want my memories to be of collaborating with Schwarzenegger, the direction of Ivan Reitman, the location shoot, being on a professional set, but my memories are of being a selective diner at lunch. For instance, they got everyone pizza, but I avoided pizza. All I would eat was the meat from the top. Then, the original Game Boy was brand new. That was the hot thing, and I was quite skilled. I was the smallest kid and some of the other children 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 infamous quote, do you remember the context? Did you grasp the meaning? At the time, I wasn't fully aware of what the word taboo meant, but I knew it was provocative and it caused the crew to chuckle. I knew it was kind of something I shouldn't normally say, but I was given special permission in this case because it was comedic. “My mom thought hard about it.” How it was conceived, based on what I was told, was they hadn't finalized all the dialogue. Certain bits of dialogue were written into the script, but once they had the kids together, it wasn't pure improvisation, but they worked on it while filming and, presumably it's either the director or producers 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, I need time" and took a short while. She really wrestled with it. She said she wasn't sure, but she felt it would likely become one of the unforgettable moments from the movie and history proved her correct.
The Austrian Oak is universally recognized as an Hollywood heavyweight. But, in the midst of his blockbuster fame in the eighties and nineties, he also headlined several surprisingly great comedies. A prime example is Kindergarten Cop, which marks its 35-year mark this holiday season. The Role and An Iconic Moment In the classic film, Schwarzenegger embodies a hardened detective who poses as a schoolteacher to catch a killer. During the story, the procedural element serves as a basic structure for the star to have charming interactions with kids. Without a doubt the standout involves a little boy named Joseph, who spontaneously announces and declares the actor, “Males have a penis, girls have a vagina.” Arnold replies icily, “I appreciate the insight.” The young actor was portrayed by child star Miko Hughes. Beyond this role encompassed a notable part on Full House as the schoolyard menace to the famous sisters and the haunting part of the child who returns in the 1989 adaptation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He continues to act today, with several projects in development. Additionally, he is a regular on fan conventions. He recently discussed his experiences from the production 35 years later. A Young Actor's Perspective 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. That's impressive, I have no memory from being four. Do you retain any flashes from that time? Yeah, somewhat. They're flashes. They're like picture memories. Do you recall how you landed the job in Kindergarten Cop? My parents, primarily my mom would bring me to auditions. Sometimes it was like a cattle call. There'd be a room full of young actors and we'd all patiently queue, enter the casting office, be in there for a very short time, do whatever little line they wanted and then leave. My parents would coach me on the dialogue and then, when I became literate, that was some of the first material I was reading. Do you have an impression of meeting Arnold? What was your feeling about him? He was incredibly nice. He was fun. He was good-natured, which arguably makes sense. It would have been odd 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 mean to all the kids in the classroom.” I knew he was a big action star because my family informed me, but I had never really seen his movies. I knew the air around him — it was exciting — but he didn't really intimidate me. He was just fun and I was eager to interact with him when he wasn't busy. He was occupied, of course, but he'd kind of play with us here and there, and we would hang off of his arms. He'd show his strength and we'd be holding on. He was exceptionally kind. He gifted all the students in the classroom a Sony Walkman, which at the time was like an iPhone. That was the hottest tech out there, that funky old yellow cassette player. I listened to the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for years on that thing on that thing. It finally gave out. I also have a genuine metal whistle. He had the teacher's whistle, and the kids all were gifted copies as well. Do you remember your time filming as being positive? You know, it's interesting, that movie was this cultural thing. It was a major production, and it was such an amazing experience, and you would think, in retrospect, I would want my memories to be of collaborating with Schwarzenegger, the direction of Ivan Reitman, the location shoot, being on a professional set, but my memories are of being a selective diner at lunch. For instance, they got everyone pizza, but I avoided pizza. All I would eat was the meat from the top. Then, the original Game Boy was brand new. That was the hot thing, and I was quite skilled. I was the smallest kid and some of the other children 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 infamous quote, do you remember the context? Did you grasp the meaning? At the time, I wasn't fully aware of what the word taboo meant, but I knew it was provocative and it caused the crew to chuckle. I knew it was kind of something I shouldn't normally say, but I was given special permission in this case because it was comedic. “My mom thought hard about it.” How it was conceived, based on what I was told, was they hadn't finalized all the dialogue. Certain bits of dialogue were written into the script, but once they had the kids together, it wasn't pure improvisation, but they worked on it while filming and, presumably it's either the director or producers 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, I need time" and took a short while. She really wrestled with it. She said she wasn't sure, but she felt it would likely become one of the unforgettable moments from the movie and history proved her correct.