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

The Austrian Oak is universally recognized as an Hollywood heavyweight. However, in the midst of his blockbuster fame in the eighties and nineties, he also delivered several surprisingly great comedies. The standout film is Kindergarten Cop, which hits its 35th anniversary this winter.

The Story and An Iconic Moment

In the 1990 movie, Schwarzenegger portrays a undercover cop who goes undercover as a schoolteacher to locate a fugitive. Throughout the film's runtime, the investigation plot serves as a loose framework for the star to film humorous moments with his young class. Without a doubt the standout features a little boy named Joseph, who unprompted rises and declares the actor, “Males have a penis, and girls get a vagina.” Arnold responds dryly, “Thanks for the tip.”

That iconic child was brought to life by former young actor Miko Hughes. In addition to this part included a recurring role on Full House as the bully to the famous sisters and the haunting part of the resurrected boy in the 1989 adaptation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. Hughes remains active today, with multiple films on the horizon. He also engages with fans at fan conventions. Not long ago shared his memories from the set of Kindergarten Cop over three decades on.

Memories from the Set

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

Miko Hughes: My understanding is 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 snapshots. They're like mental photographs.

Do you recall how you were cast in Kindergarten Cop?

My parents, primarily my mom would bring me to auditions. Sometimes it was like a cattle call. There'd be dozens of children and we'd all just have to wait, go into the room, be in there for a very short time, do whatever little line they wanted and then leave. My parents would help me learn the words and then, when I became literate, that was the initial content I was reading.

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

He was very kind. He was fun. He was good-natured, which I guess isn't too surprising. It would be strange 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'd be weird if he was mean to all the kids in the classroom.”

I was aware he was a major movie star because I was told, but I had not actually watched his movies. I sensed the excitement — like, that's cool — but he wasn't scary to me. He was just fun and I just wanted to play with him when he wasn't busy. He was busy, obviously, 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 really, really generous. He purchased for each child in the classroom a yellow cassette player, which at the time was a major status symbol. That was the hottest tech out there, that distinctive classic yellow cassette player. I listened to the Power Rangers soundtrack and the Ninja Turtles soundtrack for a long time on that thing. It wore out in time. I also received a authentic coach's whistle. He had the referee's whistle, and the kids all were gifted copies as well.

Do you remember your time filming as being fun?

You know, it's amusing, that movie became a phenomenon. It was a huge film, and it was an incredible opportunity, and you would think, looking back now, I would want my memories to be of working with Arnold, the direction of Ivan Reitman, traveling to Oregon, being on a professional set, but my memories are of being a finitely child at lunch. Like, they got everyone pizza, but I avoided 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 proficient. I was the youngest and some of the other children would hand me their devices to get past hard parts on games because I knew how, and I was quite pleased with myself. So, it's all childhood recollections.

That Famous Quote

OK, that specific dialogue, do you remember how it happened? 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 was aware it was kind of something I shouldn't normally say, but I was given approval in this case because it was humorous.

“My mom thought hard about it.”

How it was conceived, according to family lore, was they were still developing characters. Some character lines were established early on, but once they had the entire ensemble assembled, it was more of a collaboration, 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 say this. Are you okay with this?" My mom didn't answer immediately. She said, "Give me a moment, I'll decide tomorrow" and took some time. It was a tough call for her. She said she was hesitant, but she felt it will probably be one of the unforgettable moments from the movie and she was right.