I'm Known As 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 1980s and 1990s, he also starred in several surprisingly great comedies. Chief among them is Kindergarten Cop, which celebrates its 35-year mark this holiday season.

The Story and That Line

In the classic film, Schwarzenegger portrays a hardened detective who goes undercover as a elementary educator to locate a fugitive. For much of the film's runtime, the investigation plot functions as a loose framework for Arnold to share adorable moments with his young class. The most unforgettable involves a little boy named Joseph, who out of nowhere announces and declares the stoic star, “Males have a penis, females have a vagina.” Schwarzenegger replies icily, “I appreciate the insight.”

That iconic child was played by youth performer Miko Hughes. His career included a character arc on Full House as the bully to the Olsen twins and the haunting part of the youngster who comes back 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 is a regular on the con circuit. Not long ago shared his experiences from the production after all this time.

Behind the Scenes

Question: Starting off, 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.

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

Yeah, a little bit. They're flashes. They're like mental photographs.

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

My family, especially my mother would take me to auditions. Often it was like a cattle call. There'd be 20, 30 kids and we'd all just have to wait, be seen, be in there briefly, deliver a quick line they wanted and that's all. My parents would feed me the lines and then, when I became literate, that was some of the first material I was reading.

Do you have any recollection of meeting Arnold? What was your take on him?

He was very kind. He was enjoyable. He was nice, which arguably isn't too surprising. It'd be weird if he was a dick to all the kids in the classroom, that likely wouldn't create a good work environment. He was great to work with.

“It would be strange if he was unpleasant to all the kids in the classroom.”

I understood he was a major movie star because I was told, but I had never really seen his movies. I felt the importance — he was a big deal — but he didn't really intimidate me. He was merely entertaining and I only wanted to hang out with him when he wasn't busy. He was busy, obviously, but he'd sometimes engage here and there, and we would cling to his muscles. He'd show his strength and we'd be hanging off. He was incredibly giving. He gifted all the students in the classroom a yellow cassette player, which at the time was the hottest tech. This was the coolest device, that funky old yellow cassette player. I played the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for years on that thing on that thing. It wore out in time. I also have a real silver whistle. He had the coach whistle, and the kids all were gifted copies as well.

Do you remember your days on set as being fun?

You know, it's funny, that movie became a phenomenon. It was a huge film, and it was such an amazing experience, and you would think, as an adult, I would want my memories to be of the star himself, the direction of Ivan Reitman, the location shoot, seeing the set, 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 meat from the top. Then, the first-generation Game Boy was brand new. That was the hot thing, and I was quite skilled. I was the youngest and some of the other children would hand me their devices to beat difficult stages on games because I was able to, and I was quite pleased with myself. So, it's all childhood recollections.

The Infamous Moment

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 wasn't supposed to do, but I was given special permission in this case because it was humorous.

“It was a difficult decision for her.”

How it originated, according to family lore, was they didn't have specific roles. A few scenes 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 the filmmakers came to my mom and said, "There's a concept. We want Miko to have this line. Are you okay with this?" My mom didn't agree right away. She said, "I need to consider this, let me sleep on it" and took some time. It was a tough call for her. She said she was hesitant, but she felt it could end up as one of the most memorable lines from the movie and she was right.