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

The Austrian Oak is best known as an Hollywood heavyweight. But, at the height of his blockbuster fame in the eighties and nineties, he also delivered several genuinely hilarious comedies. A prime example is Kindergarten Cop, which hits its three-and-a-half decade milestone this winter.

The Role and The Famous Scene

In the classic film, Schwarzenegger embodies a hardened detective who poses as a elementary educator to locate a fugitive. For much of the movie, the crime storyline acts as a loose framework for the star to have charming interactions with kids. Arguably the most famous belongs to a little boy named Joseph, who out of nowhere rises and states the former bodybuilder, “Males have a penis, females have a vagina.” The Terminator responds dryly, “Thanks for the tip.”

The young actor was portrayed by former young actor Miko Hughes. In addition to this part included a notable part on Full House as the schoolyard menace to the famous sisters and the pivotal role of the child who returns in the 1989 adaptation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. He still works in film today, with several projects in development. He also engages with fans at fan conventions. Not long ago shared his recollections from the set of Kindergarten Cop 35 years later.

A Young Actor's Perspective

Question: Starting off, how old were you when you filmed Kindergarten Cop?

Miko Hughes: I believe I was four. I was the smallest of all the kids on set.

That's remarkable, I don't recall being four. Do you have any memories from that time?

Yeah, somewhat. 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 bring me to auditions. Often it was an open call. There'd be a room full of young actors and we'd all just have to wait, enter the casting office, be in there less than five minutes, deliver a quick line they wanted and then leave. My parents would feed me the lines and then, as soon as I could read, that was probably the first stuff I was reading.

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

He was very kind. He was fun. He was nice, which I suppose 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 productive set. He was fun to be around.

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

I knew he was a major movie star because I was told, but I had not actually watched his movies. I felt the importance — he was a big deal — but he wasn't scary to me. He was just fun and I just wanted to play with him when he had time. He was occupied, of course, but he'd occasionally joke around here and there, and we would cling to his muscles. He'd flex and we'd be hanging off. He was exceptionally kind. He gifted all the students in the classroom a yellow cassette player, which at the time was like an iPhone. 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 years on that thing on that thing. It wore out in time. I also was given a real silver whistle. He had the coach whistle, and the kids all got a whistle as well.

Do you remember your time filming as being positive?

You know, it's interesting, that movie became a phenomenon. It was such a big movie, and it was a wonderful time, and you would think, in retrospect, I would want my memories to be of working with Arnold, the legendary director, traveling to Oregon, the production design, but my memories are of being a finitely child at lunch. For example, they got everyone pizza, but I wasn't a pizza fan. All I would eat was the pepperoni off the top. Then, the original Game Boy was brand new. That was the hot thing, and I was quite skilled. I was the smallest kid and some of the bigger kids would bring me their Game Boys to pass certain levels on games because I knew how, and I was felt accomplished. So, it's all youthful anecdotes.

The Infamous Moment

OK, the infamous quote, do you remember anything about it? Did you understand the words?

At the time, I likely didn't understand what the word taboo meant, but I knew it was provocative and it caused the crew to chuckle. I understood it was kind of something I wasn't supposed to do, but I was given special permission in this case because it was humorous.

“She really wrestled with it.”

How it was conceived, according to family lore, was they didn't have specific roles. A few scenes were written into the script, but once they had the whole cast on the set, it was more of a collaboration, but they worked on it while filming and, I suppose it's either the director or producers came to my mom and said, "There's a concept. We want Miko to deliver this dialogue. Are you okay with this?" My mom paused. She said, "Give me a moment, let me sleep on it" and took a day or two. She deliberated carefully. She said she wasn't sure, but she believed it could end up as one of the iconic quotes from the movie and her instinct was correct.