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

Arnold Schwarzenegger is universally recognized as an action movie legend. Yet, in the midst of his blockbuster fame in the eighties and nineties, he also headlined several surprisingly great comedies. Chief among them is Kindergarten Cop, which marks its 35-year mark this winter.

The Film and An Iconic Moment

In the 1990 movie, Schwarzenegger portrays a hardened detective who goes undercover as a kindergarten teacher to locate a fugitive. During the movie, the procedural element acts as a simple backdrop for Arnold to have charming moments with his young class. Without a doubt the standout features a little boy named Joseph, who spontaneously stands up and informs the stoic star, “Males have a penis, females have a vagina.” The Terminator deadpans, “I appreciate the insight.”

The boy behind the line was played by youth performer Miko Hughes. His career featured a recurring role on Full House as the schoolyard menace to the child stars and the haunting part of the youngster who comes back in the 1989 adaptation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He continues to act today, with a slate of movies on the horizon. Furthermore, he is a regular on fan conventions. Recently recalled his memories from the filming of the classic over three decades on.

Behind the Scenes

Question: Starting off, 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 impressive, I can't remember being four. Do you have any memories from that time?

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

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

My family, especially my mother would bring me to auditions. Often it was like a cattle call. There'd be 20, 30 kids and we'd all just have to wait, enter the casting office, be in there briefly, deliver a quick line they wanted and then leave. 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 a specific memory of meeting Arnold? What was your impression of him?

He was very kind. He was fun. He was good-natured, which I suppose stands to reason. It'd be weird if he was a dick to all the kids in the classroom, that likely wouldn't create a positive atmosphere. He was great to work with.

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

I understood he was a huge celebrity because that's what my parents told me, but I had barely seen his movies. I sensed the excitement — like, that's cool — but he wasn't scary to me. He was simply playful and I just wanted to play with him when he was available. He was busy, obviously, but he'd occasionally joke around here and there, and we would dangle from his limbs. He'd show his strength and we'd be holding on. He was really, really generous. He bought every kid in the classroom a yellow cassette player, which at the time was like an iPhone. It was the coolest device, that distinctive classic yellow cassette player. I listened to the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for years on that thing on that thing. It eventually broke. I also was given a genuine metal whistle. He had the teacher's whistle, and the kids all were gifted copies as well.

Do you remember your days on set as being enjoyable?

You know, it's interesting, that movie became a phenomenon. 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 the star himself, the direction of Ivan Reitman, traveling to Oregon, being on a professional set, but my memories are of being a selective diner 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 first-generation Game Boy was just released. That was the big craze, and I was pretty good at it. I was the youngest and some of the older kids would hand me their devices to beat difficult stages on games because I could do it, 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 provocative meant, but I knew it was provocative and it made adults laugh. I knew it was kind of something I shouldn't normally say, but I was given an exception in this case because it was funny.

“It was a difficult decision for her.”

How it was conceived, based on what I was told, was they didn't have specific roles. A few scenes were established early on, but once they had the kids together, it wasn't pure improvisation, but they refined it on set and, presumably it's either the director or producers 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 agree right away. She said, "Let me think about it, let me sleep on it" and took a day or two. She really wrestled with it. She said she was hesitant, but she felt it will probably be one of the iconic quotes from the movie and her instinct was correct.