I'm Known As the ‘Boys Have a Penis’ Kid from Kindergarten Cop: A Look Back.

The Austrian Oak is universally recognized as an iconic tough guy. But, during the peak of his cinematic dominance in the eighties and nineties, he also delivered several critically acclaimed comedies. A prime example is Kindergarten Cop, which hits its 35-year mark this December.

The Role and The Famous Scene

In the 1990 movie, Schwarzenegger portrays a tough police officer who poses as a elementary educator to locate a fugitive. For much of the film's runtime, the investigation plot functions as a simple backdrop for Arnold to have charming scenes with children. Without a doubt the standout involves a child named Joseph, who spontaneously announces and informs the stoic star, “Males have a penis, girls have a vagina.” The Terminator responds dryly, “Thanks for the tip.”

That iconic child was brought to life by child star Miko Hughes. Beyond this role encompassed a recurring role on Full House playing the antagonist to the child stars and the pivotal role of the child who returns in the 1989 adaptation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. Hughes remains active today, with multiple films listed on his IMDb. He also frequently attends the con circuit. Not long ago shared his memories from the filming of the classic after all this time.

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 youngest 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 brief images. They're like picture memories.

Do you recall how you landed the job in Kindergarten Cop?

My mother, mainly would accompany me to auditions. Sometimes it was like a cattle call. There'd be dozens of children and we'd all patiently queue, be seen, be in there less than five minutes, do whatever little line they wanted and that was it. My parents would feed me the lines and then, once I learned to read, that was probably the first stuff I was reading.

Do you have an impression of meeting Arnold? What was your impression of him?

He was extremely gentle. He was playful. He was pleasant, which I suppose makes sense. It would be strange if he was mean to all the kids in the classroom, that surely wouldn't foster a positive atmosphere. He was fun to be around.

“It would have been odd if he was a dick to all the kids in the classroom.”

I knew he was a huge celebrity because I was told, but I had never really seen his movies. I felt the importance — it was exciting — but he didn't really intimidate me. He was merely entertaining 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 dangle from his limbs. He'd flex and we'd be dangling there. He was really, really generous. He bought every kid in the classroom a yellow cassette player, which at the time was the hottest tech. It was the hottest tech out there, that distinctive classic yellow cassette player. I used to rock out to 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 teacher's whistle, and the kids all got a whistle as well.

Do you remember your days on set as being fun?

You know, it's funny, that movie was this cultural thing. It was a major production, and it was an incredible opportunity, and you would think, looking back now, I would want my memories to be of working with Arnold, working with [director] 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 avoided pizza. All I would eat was the toppings only. Then, the original Game Boy was just released. That was the big craze, and I was proficient. I was the smallest kid and some of the other children would bring me their Game Boys to get past hard parts on games because I could do it, and I was quite pleased with myself. So, it's all youthful anecdotes.

The Line

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

At the time, I probably didn't know what the word shocking meant, but I realized it got a reaction and it made adults laugh. I knew it was kind of something I wouldn't usually utter, but I was given approval in this case because it was humorous.

“My mom thought hard about it.”

How it came about, from what I understand, was they didn't have specific roles. Some character lines were part of the original screenplay, but once they had the entire ensemble assembled, it wasn't necessarily improv, but they worked on it while filming and, I suppose 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, "Let me think about it, I need time" and took a day or two. She deliberated carefully. She said she wasn't sure, but she felt it could end up as one of the iconic quotes from the movie and history proved her correct.