I Am the ‘Boys Have a Penis’ Kid from Kindergarten Cop: A Look Back.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is best known as an action movie legend. Yet, during the peak of his cinematic dominance in the eighties and nineties, he also starred in several surprisingly great comedies. The standout film is Kindergarten Cop, which hits its three-and-a-half decade milestone this holiday season.

The Film and An Iconic Moment

In the 1990 movie, Schwarzenegger plays a undercover cop who poses as a elementary educator to track down a criminal. During the story, the investigation plot acts as a loose framework for Arnold to film humorous scenes with children. Without a doubt the standout involves a little boy named Joseph, who unprompted stands up and states the stoic star, “Males have a penis, females have a vagina.” Schwarzenegger replies icily, “Thank you for that information.”

The young actor was played by youth performer Miko Hughes. His career encompassed a recurring role on Full House playing the antagonist to the Olsen twins 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 in development. Furthermore, he frequently attends fan conventions. He recently recalled his memories from the set of Kindergarten Cop 35 years later.

Behind the Scenes

Q: To begin, how old were you when you filmed Kindergarten Cop?

Miko Hughes: My understanding is I was four. I was the smallest of all the kids on set.

That's impressive, I don't recall being four. Do you remember anything from that time?

Yeah, somewhat. 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 take me to auditions. Frequently it was a mass tryout. There'd be dozens of children and we'd all simply wait around, go into the room, be in there for a very short time, deliver a quick line they wanted and then leave. My parents would help me learn the words 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 take on him?

He was incredibly nice. He was fun. He was good-natured, which I suppose makes sense. It would be strange 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 unpleasant to all the kids in the classroom.”

I knew he was a big action star because I was told, but I had barely seen his movies. I knew the air around him — like, that's cool — 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 busy, obviously, but he'd kind of play with us here and there, and we would cling to his muscles. He'd show his strength and we'd be dangling there. He was incredibly giving. He gifted all the students in the classroom a yellow cassette player, which at the time was a major status symbol. This was the must-have gadget, that funky old yellow cassette player. I listened to the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for a long time on that thing. It eventually broke. 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 enjoyable?

You know, it's amusing, that movie was this cultural thing. It was a huge film, and it was such an amazing experience, and you would think, looking back now, I would want my memories to be of working with Arnold, working with [director] Ivan Reitman, traveling to Oregon, being on a professional set, but my memories are of being a really picky eater at lunch. For instance, they got everyone pizza, but I wasn't a pizza fan. All I would eat was the pepperoni off the top. Then, the Nintendo Game Boy was brand new. That was the hot thing, and I was quite skilled. I was the smallest kid 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 really proud of that. So, it's all youthful anecdotes.

The Infamous Moment

OK, the penis and vagina line, do you remember anything about it? Did you know what you were saying?

At the time, I probably didn't know what the word taboo meant, but I understood it was edgy and it caused the crew to chuckle. I was aware it was kind of something I wasn't supposed to do, but I was given approval in this case because it was humorous.

“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 kids together, it wasn't necessarily improv, but they refined it on set and, presumably someone in charge came to my mom and said, "We have an idea. We want Miko to say this. Are you okay with this?" My mom didn't answer immediately. She said, "Give me a moment, I'll decide tomorrow" and took a day or two. She really wrestled with it. She said she had doubts, but she felt it will probably be one of the iconic quotes from the movie and her instinct was correct.