I Am the ‘Boys Have a Penis’ Kid from the Arnold Schwarzenegger Comedy: A Candid Conversation.

The Austrian Oak is universally recognized as an iconic tough guy. Yet, in the midst of his cinematic dominance in the 1980s and 1990s, he also starred in several surprisingly great comedies. Chief among them is Kindergarten Cop, which marks its 35th anniversary this December.

The Role and That Line

In the 1990 movie, Schwarzenegger plays a hardened detective who masquerades as a elementary educator to locate a fugitive. For much of the movie, the procedural element acts as a simple backdrop for Arnold to have charming scenes with children. Arguably the most famous involves a child named Joseph, who unprompted stands up and declares the actor, “Males have a penis, females have a vagina.” Arnold replies icily, “I appreciate the insight.”

The young actor was played by child star Miko Hughes. In addition to this part featured a notable part on Full House playing the antagonist to the Olsen twins and the haunting part of the resurrected boy in the 1989 adaptation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He still works in film today, with a slate of movies listed on his IMDb. Furthermore, he engages with fans at the con circuit. Recently discussed his memories from the set of Kindergarten Cop 35 years later.

A Young Actor's Perspective

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

Miko Hughes: I think I was four. I was the youngest of all the kids on set.

Wow, I don't recall being four. Do you retain any flashes from that time?

Yeah, a little bit. They're flashes. They're like picture memories.

Do you recall how you were cast in Kindergarten Cop?

My mother, mainly would bring me to auditions. Frequently it was an open call. There'd be 20, 30 kids and we'd all patiently queue, be seen, be in there less than five minutes, deliver a quick line they wanted and then leave. My parents would coach me on the dialogue and then, as soon as I could read, that was some of the first material I was reading.

Do you have any recollection of meeting Arnold? What was your feeling about him?

He was extremely gentle. He was fun. He was good-natured, which I guess makes sense. It would have been odd if he was unpleasant to all the kids in the classroom, that surely wouldn't foster a good work environment. He was a joy to have on set.

“It'd be weird if he was mean to all the kids in the classroom.”

I understood he was a big action star because my family informed me, but I had barely seen his movies. I sensed the excitement — he was a big deal — but he wasn't scary to me. He was just fun and I was eager to interact with him when he was available. He was busy, obviously, but he'd sometimes engage here and there, and we would hang off of his arms. He'd show his strength and we'd be hanging off. He was exceptionally kind. He purchased for each child in the classroom a yellow cassette player, which at the time was the hottest tech. It 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 ages on that thing. It wore out in time. I also received a genuine metal 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 enjoyable?

You know, it's interesting, that movie was this cultural thing. It was a huge film, 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 legendary director, traveling to Oregon, being on a professional set, but my memories are of being a finitely child 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 original Game Boy was new. That was the big craze, and I was pretty good at it. I was the youngest 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 felt accomplished. So, it's all youthful anecdotes.

The Infamous Moment

OK, the penis and vagina line, do you remember how it happened? Did you grasp the meaning?

At the time, I probably didn't know what the word taboo meant, but I understood it was edgy 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 comedic.

“She really wrestled with it.”

How it was conceived, according to family lore, was they were still developing characters. A few scenes were established early on, but once they had the entire ensemble assembled, it wasn't necessarily improv, but they refined it on set and, presumably it's either the director or producers came to my mom and said, "There's a concept. We want Miko to have this line. Are you okay with this?" My mom paused. She said, "Let me think about it, I'll decide tomorrow" and took a short while. It was a tough call for her. She said she wasn't sure, but she thought it would likely become one of the unforgettable moments from the movie and history proved her correct.