Arnold Schwarzenegger is rightfully celebrated as an action movie legend. Yet, at the height of his blockbuster fame in the 1980s and 1990s, he also starred in several surprisingly great comedies. Chief among them is Kindergarten Cop, which marks its 35-year mark this winter.
In the classic film, Schwarzenegger embodies a undercover cop who poses as a schoolteacher to catch a killer. Throughout the movie, the procedural element serves as a basic structure for Arnold to share adorable moments with his young class. Without a doubt the standout features a little boy named Joseph, who spontaneously stands up and declares the stoic star, “Males have a penis, girls have a vagina.” Schwarzenegger deadpans, “Thanks for the tip.”
The boy behind the line was portrayed by former young actor Miko Hughes. Beyond this role encompassed a notable part on Full House playing the antagonist to the famous sisters and the pivotal role of the resurrected boy in the screen translation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. Hughes remains active today, with a slate of movies in development. He also is a regular on the con circuit. He recently shared his recollections from the set of Kindergarten Cop after all this time.
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.
Wow, I can't remember being four. Do you retain any flashes from that time?
Yeah, to a degree. They're brief images. They're like mental photographs.
Do you recall how you got the part in Kindergarten Cop?
My mother, mainly 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 for a very short time, deliver a quick line they wanted and then leave. My parents would coach me on the dialogue and then, once I learned to read, that was probably the first stuff I was reading.
Do you have a specific memory of meeting Arnold? What was your impression of him?
He was extremely gentle. He was fun. He was good-natured, which I suppose makes sense. It would have been odd if he was a dick to all the kids in the classroom, that likely wouldn't create a good work environment. He was fun to be around.
“It'd be weird if he was mean to all the kids in the classroom.”
I understood he was a huge celebrity because my family informed me, but I had not actually watched his movies. I knew the air around him — it was exciting — but he wasn't scary to me. He was just fun and I only wanted to hang out with him when he had time. He was working hard, but he'd kind of play with us 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 gifted all the students in the classroom a personal stereo, which at the time was like an iPhone. It was the must-have gadget, that distinctive classic yellow cassette player. I used to rock out to the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for years on that thing on that thing. It finally gave out. I also was given 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 enjoyable?
You know, it's funny, that movie was this cultural thing. It was a huge film, and it was an incredible opportunity, and you would think, as an adult, I would want my memories to be of collaborating with Schwarzenegger, the direction of Ivan Reitman, visiting Astoria, 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 pepperoni off the top. Then, the Nintendo Game Boy was new. That was the hot thing, and I was pretty good at it. I was the smallest kid and some of the other children would bring me their Game Boys to beat difficult stages on games because I knew how, and I was felt accomplished. So, it's all youthful anecdotes.
OK, that specific dialogue, do you remember anything about it? Did you know what you were saying?
At the time, I wasn't fully aware of what the word shocking meant, but I realized it got a reaction and it caused the crew to chuckle. I knew it was kind of something I wouldn't usually utter, but I was given approval in this case because it was humorous.
“It was a difficult decision for her.”
How it was conceived, according to family lore, was they were still developing characters. Some character lines were established early on, but once they had the kids together, it wasn't pure improvisation, but they worked on it while filming and, reportedly someone in charge came to my mom and said, "There's a concept. We want Miko to deliver this dialogue. Are you okay with this?" My mom didn't answer immediately. She said, "Give me a moment, I'll decide tomorrow" and took a short while. She really wrestled with it. She said she was hesitant, but she felt it could end up as one of the most memorable lines from the movie and history proved her correct.
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